Power of Mind
by Minituks
Summary: Plagued by sudden dreams of herself and somebody whom she would never in her waking mind have ever thought of co-starring in them. Unable to shake the disturbingly dirty and very naughty images of her and her ex-sensei in beyond compromsing positions. Can Sakura keep this seemingly innocent secret to herself? Or will her curiosity get the better of her?
1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at writing a story, well, ever. Please don't be too harsh, constructive criticism is always welcome and thanks for any reviews that may come.

I do not own Naruto or Any of the characters...

KakashixSakura

* * *

Stumbling through the dark, cluttered room, clothes being haphazardly thrown in any direction, two people caught in the sensations one gives to the other. Giving into the blazing sexual tension consuming their bodies and pushing them into a world of passion and lust.

* * *

Gasping for air, the petite pink haired vixen murmured a soft thrum of complements to the man who was currently kissing, no, devouring her swollen and bruised lips, attempting to mark every bit of exposed flesh. The sensations rapidly became too much for the young woman, yet left her wanting more at the same time.

Every nip to the sensitive area around her neck and throat, the way his hands groped the places no other has dared to touch before, being thoroughly dominated, the young woman felt as if she would melt between the hot sweaty body of her male companion and the cool wall she had been thrust against.

Sounds of rough guttural grunts and labored feminine sighs resonated throughout the room, accompanied by the occasional cry out of pleasure when the rough calloused hands of the older, seasoned shinobi hit just the right spot for the young woman. Appreciation for her lover reaching new levels as every part of her body burned from the heavenly touches of his warm slick tongue and well placed hands, leaving scorching over sensitive skin in their wake.

Despite all of this, the young womans sighs of pleasure turned into pleading mewls, desperately craving the one thing she knew would push her over the edge.

"Sensei please, more, I need more". She forced out between each labored breath, making it sound more like a sensual raspy whisper directly into her lovers ear.

Breaking away from her throat, now covered in love bites, ignoring the feeble protesting movements of his lover, with the finesse of one with many years of experience, he replied, whilst rapidly disposing of the binds concealing her twin mounds from his ever eager eyes.

"Sakura, I think we're way past the "sensei" stage don't you think, drop the honorific". Before he immediately begun his assault on the newly exposed flesh, only leaving room for the young woman, in her lust clouded state to cry out a quick exclamation "KAKASHI!". Now writhing from the new sensation caused by this multi talented mans expertise in kneading and licking her swollen mounds, shuddering everytime he flicked her sensitive nipples with his warm tongue.

Letting her patience override everything else, Sakura reached down in between her lovers and her own body to relieve some of the tension in the lower half of her body when suddenly two strong hands took her wrists and pinned them above her head. Putting them in one hand, Kakashi shook his head, reaching down to let his one free hand wander down to the waist band of her panties, playing with them just to get a reaction out of her, which he did.

"God help me Kakashi, if you dont get started I swear i'll chop off your ba...". Abruptly he pushed his lips to hers, pushing past them with his tongue to tangle with hers, effectively halting her verbal threat towards his precious genitalia. Lowering his hand further to ghost lightly over the material of her panties, still covering her over heated sex, brushing harder and feeling just how soaked she was through them.

Finally, disposing of the flimsy material, he begun to play with her sensitive nub, making the little kunoichi moan into his demanding kiss and press her hips further into his hand.

"Pants." Sakura broke away from the kiss, thrusting her hips into her lovers, trying to get her point across. The man in question then moved his hand from her sex to unzip and unbutton his own pants; pulling down both his pants and boxers underneath, letting his engorged member finally bounce free of its constricting confines.

Without a word, he aligned his member at the entrance of her sex,and with one quick thrust, was fully engulfed in her hot feminine canal. Hearing her lover hum in pleasure at the soft clenching of her inner walls around his member, Sakura lets herself adjust to the sudden feeling of being filled, letting her mouth drop open in a silent cry of pleasure, feeling his hot member pumping inside of her.

Placing a chaste kiss to his lovers bruised lips, he began to pump in and out of her with a steady rhythm, trying to work them both up to their climax.

Letting out small squeaks of pleasure each time her lover hit the right spot, Sakura could feel her lovers rhythm start to become unsteady, signalling that he too was nearing his climax.

Whispering her name each time he pushed back into her, his exclamations of her name only got louder with each thrust. She could feel it coming, so close now.

"Sakura" "Sakura!" "SAKURA!"

* * *

"SAKURA!" Naruto screamed for the final time, knowing that she would finally awaken.

Rolling over, Sakura rubbed her eyes to try and wipe the sleep away. When she managed to open her eyes fully, she was staring directly into the big blue eyes of her loud, obnoxious old team-mate, 'Aaaarrgh, That Naruto', Sakura thought whilst trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

"Morning Sakura-chan!" The exuberant blonde shouted in his loud cheery voice, smiling directly into the face of his frustrated, in more ways then one, pink haired friend who was becoming increasingly irritated at the sight of the over exuberant blonde jinchuuriki.

"You were really out." He said with a sheepish smile. Not knowing when to cut his losses he continued. "You must've been having a really good dream, 'eh Sakura-chan, you were making really weird noises." With a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Feeling the vein throbbing in her forehead Sakura shouted. "Gah! Naruto, what do you want? Why are you in my house at this time of the morning?" At her boiling point with the blonde knucklehead and slightly embarrassed at being caught making noises whilst having "That" sort of dream.

Scratching his head in a show of false innocence, "Ah, You see, I was just in the neighborhood and thought i'd drop by to say Hi", he said with a forced chuckle before continuing. "And, I was wondering if you wanted to come and train with me today, since I know its your day off and all." He ended with a big goofy smile.

She couldn't blame him much, with most of their friends out of town on long term missions. Besides her job at the hospital, Sakura was finding it hard to find things to do too, Naruto must be extra bored without his precious Hinata around to keep him company, which is why most people these days said he looked just like a lost puppy running around the village all alone. And that would be why he was bothering her so much.

Now don't get her wrong, she loved Naruto like any other person who came to know him well, after a while, more like a brother really, but usually she didn't have the patience to handle his antics all day, she couldn't fathom how quiet, meek and shy little Hinata could handle him, but she guessed the saying "Opposites attract" was strong in this couple. Today though, she was willing to deal with it, being her day off, she was stuck for things to do, and she really needed to keep her mind occupied these days.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking towards the training grounds, Sakura can't help but let her mind wander back to her most recent dream, 'Gah, Why am I having these dreams?'

Knowing well that this was a dangerous thought process, Sakura usually never allowed herself to dwell on them for any amount of time, always trying to keep herself busy. Throwing herself into her job as a medic and any other mission she's assigned to, she never really had the time to. But today was a day off, the kind of day she use to look forward to, until just recently when her idle mind chose to start projecting the most disturbing and very dirty images of her and her ex-sensei.

It wasn't always like that though. When the first of these dreams came to her, it was kind of normal, if you disregarded the fact that she was in a domestic relationship with her the much older silver haired ninja, but still relatively innocent, especially when compared to the most recent images her subconscious mind had conjured up. Even so, that dream had left her feeling slightly confused about the new feelings bubbling in her chest relating to said man. She was finding it hard to concentrate, trying to understand why she couldn't shake the feelings that both disturbed her and peaked the curiosity of her more kinky and perverse side, which honestly, kind of freaked her out.

'Eh, what kind of dream was that?' She wondered as she went through her day as usual, unconsciously letting her mind slip back to her dream. 'That was so strange, ugh; I can't believe I'm still thinking about this, come on Sakura, get your head into gear'. And with that, she wouldn't let her mind dwell on that dream or her gradually changing opinion of her old teammate, until she returned home that night and again, had a dream about the same man, but in a different setting.

Ever since then, as the nights went by, her dreams had gradually changed into the more racy and naughty kind they were now, becoming increasingly vivid with time, and then, after many nights of waking up hot and bothered, thoroughly irritated at whatever dared to wake her up just before the real climax of every dream. If not for her alarm clock or the rude awakenings of the annoyingly persistent knucklehead ninja, she might be a little more loose, but that wasn't the case, lately she had been sporting a very menacing look, usually reserved for the days when her monthly "visitor" came, directed at any poor unfortunate that happened to come in contact with the frustrated kunoichi whenever she was forced to step out of her home.

She knew the dreams weren't real, but if they were any indication of how good the silver haired jounin really was in his sexual confrontations, she would be lying if she wasn't interested or in the least bit curious, heck, with how dirty and tempting the dreams were, it would take a saint not to dwell on them now. Whereas, her previous opinion of the man, which had been one of considerably diluted respect, due to his chronic habitual tardiness and unhealthy inclination towards his treasured adult literature, now she wondered about the real excuse for his continuous late streak, and wondered about the many different techniques and positions the man, with his nifty eye, had memorized over the years from reading all of those ever present books, her burning curiosity only heightening each time she let her mind wander back to her subconscious minds most recent fixation.

Yes, Sakura knew this was all a very dangerous track to let her mind wander down, but she was confident that her innermost thoughts would stay between her and that little devil inside she liked to call "Dark Inner Sakura", the one who's voice made the kunoichi think that this forbidden prospect wasn't so bad, it actually making her like the idea, until she slammed those thoughts right back to the deepest recesses of her mind, but they always seemed to bubble back to the surface when her carefully placed walls gave in, only to be slammed right back again.

It wasn't like she was seriously contemplating doing anything with the man in question, more like, she wouldn't mind if anything did happen, which also freaked her out, because she had never even thought of her Kakashi-sensei in any other way then her perverted sensei who was constantly late but had a knack for showing up right at the right moment. That didn't mean she couldn't think about the dreams though.

* * *

Finally making it to the training grounds, Sakura scanned around the area fast expecting to see her blonde headed friend bounding up to greet her, but not seeing him anywhere.

'Hmm, that's weird, Naruto, that knucklehead should have been here by now'. She thinks while perching herself up against a nearby tree, willing to wait until the obnoxious blonde made his appearance.

Still thinking about her little dilemma, Sakura thanks the heavens that silver jounin was absent from the village for the time being, out on a classified mission, for an unknown amount of time, and an undisclosed amount of money. His team had been gone for around four months now if she remembered correctly, which she did, it's not every day that four of Konohas finest get deployed on the same mission. She supposed it was probably an incredibly dangerous mission, according to the small bits of information she had gathered whilst working in close quarters with her shishou, the Hokage. Not that she was fishing for information, things just happened to catch her eye, or certain things drifted past her ears at the right moment.

She didn't know what these dreams could be put down to, but she guessed it could be because of the silver haired ninjas rather abrupt extended leave from the village. Not that they were really close before the mission, only seeing each other for the occasional outing enforced by the ever insistent Naruto or quick glimpses of that shock of silver he called hair around the village. Ever since the disbandment of Team Kakashi following the graduation of her and Naruto to jounin status, they had all went o their own ways, with Sakura usually working in the hospital and the other two taking missions left right and center it wasn't unusual for her to go weeks without seeing her old teammate, but there was always an amiable air where they would casually wave and smile at each other, Kakashi with his signature eye crease.

Still, that didn't explain the contents of her dreams and why they were so, naughty. She had never dreamt about any other of her friends this way,(except for the incident involving her and her sometimes friend, sometimes enemy, Ino), which she was more than eager to forget.

Whenever she tried to place any other person in the positions occupied by her ex-sensei, he always drifted back into them with a vengeance, and though reluctant to think it and still trying to deny it even to herself, she liked it that way. She blamed it all on her "Dark inner Sakura" for making her feel kinky and wrong.

All in all, she really needed to find a way to rid herself of these dreams, preferably before the miraculous return of Kakashi, because, she already knew she would never look at her boring old sensei the same way again.


	3. Chapter 3

Realizing that she had lost track of time, Sakura wonders where Naruto had gotten off too. 'Had he forgotten about their training session? No, that couldn't be it, he must have been held up.' By what though?

Breaking out of her own thoughts, Sakura hears a squawk from up above. Looking up she sees one of Tsunades messenger birds perched up on a high branch in the tree across from her, signalling that she was needed in Tsunades office ASAP.

'Sorry Naruto, but duty calls' she thinks whilst getting to her feet and brushing the grass and dirt from her clothes. And with that, she starts towards her the hokage office, propelling herself down the path and through the trees with chakra laden feet, wondering what had happened that her shishou had called on Sakura herself.

After a short time, Sakura arrives at the Hokage tower, hearing a crash from what seemed to be the hokages office, she races through the doors to see what all the commotions about.

Nearing the office she sees Shizune standing outside the door with an anxious expression on her face, turning towards the approaching young woman, she bites her lip, looking almost worried, turning around to let Sakura through the door, she gives her kohai a slight nod before prompting Sakura inside the office.

Once inside, Sakura immediately feels the killing intent coming from her shishou standing above the cowering Naruto, and many items in his vicinity, no doubt the result of one of Narutos idiotic outbursts. 'Ah, so here's where he got to', she thinks before Tsunade turns her glare towards the newly present young woman. Hesitantly bowing forward to show her respect towards the obviously pissed older woman, Sakura wonders what's got her shishou so worked up.

"Sakura, you're finally here" Tsunade says, lightening her tone slightly to addressing her apprentice.

"I came as soon as I saw the messenger bird Tsunade-shishou." She replies, waiting for the inevitable news.

"Well, you're both probably wondering why I called you here today" Tsunade says, to which the still shaken Naruto and Sakura answer with a simultaneous "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Due to you two being our last off duty shinobi, I'm sending you two on a mission that will be taken care of as fast and efficiently as possible, understood."To which the two confused young ninja reply with another "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"You two are to grab whatever you need and leave immediately" She says handing them both a scroll each.

"This is a classified mission; you will be heading towards a rendezvous point where you will be meeting up with another team. Once there, they will ask you both to recite the different codes printed on each of your scrolls, to avoid interception of the mission of course. They will fill you in once you've arrived in a safe area. Understood?"

The two young people look at each other before giving a quick nod.

"You two are dismissed, good luck on your mission." Tsunade says looking at them both. Unable to decipher the well masked of emotions on her shishous face, Sakura murmurs a quick "Yes, shishou." Bowing her head and making a hasty exit.

"You can count on us Baa-chan." Comes the overly confident remark of Naruto before he comes barrelling out of the office, jogging up to Sakura and putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Neh, Sakura-chan, it's been a long time since we've been sent on a mission together right. I guess we could make it work without Kakashi-sensei and that bastard, 'eh Sakura-chan." He says with a wistful look. Not that Sakura was paying any attention; just the mention of a certain ex-sensei had her mind wandering into forbidden territory.

'Concentrate Sakura, this is an important mission, you are not going to let this stupid fixation ruin this mission.' Sakura thinks to herself, becoming increasing uncomfortable under the pressure of her exuberant friends large arm.

Getting her head straight into mission mode Sakura shakes Narutos arm off and turns to him.

"Naruto, I'll meet you at the gates in around a half an hour, alright?" To which the blonde knucklehead grins and salutes a "Yes mam" before turning and heading in the direction of his apartment.

Shouting a quick "Don't be late" after her ever eager friend, she turns and starts bounding towards her own apartment.

Her apartment wasn't much, just the bare necessities, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom and a small lounge only big enough to fit a small overused couch and a desk to hold all of her books and work from the hospital and unfinished mission reports.

Heading straight into her bedroom, Sakura grabs her prepacked bags, ever the over prepared perfectionist, stuffing things she may need into the bag. Making quick time, she decides to grab a quick shower before her half hour is up.

Finishing her shower and getting into her ninja gear, placing her hitae-ate just right on her head, she casts a quick glance over herself to check for anything out of place. Letting her over-critical eyes cast over her image in the mirror, Sakura grimaces at her own reflection, from her short stringy hair and wide forehead then down her less then curvy figure, something she does every day, Sakura flicks her still damp pink coloured hair over her shoulder, readying herself to project a confident young women. She picks up her gears, disregarding the door, and bounds straight out her window, across to the roof of the adjacent building, making her way by roof top to the village gates to meet up with Naruto.

Nearing the gates, right on time, Sakura looks around and sees Naruto flying towards the gate from the opposite direction. Not to be outdone, Sakuras competitiveness forces her to push more chakra to her feet and becoming almost a blur to try and reach the gates before Naruto. Naruto obviously picking up on Sakuras new speed comes racing even faster too, letting his competitive side take control, whizzing through the air.

Both of them coming to a halt in clouds of dust, panting from the exertion she had suddenly put her body through, Sakura looks up to see Naruto standing there with a triumphant look on his face.

Walking up to him Sakura gives him a hard knock to the back of the head before stating, indignantly that she was "Out of practice." And to stop looking like that, before stomping off towards the village gates, signing her name out and nodding a quick bow to the forever chunin ranked duo, Izumo and Kotetsu, with Naruto rubbing his head and following suit directly behind her.

"Have you read you're scroll yet Naruto?" The pinkette calls out to her teammate. Remembering that she hadn't quite gotten around to it.

"Ah, Yeah, it says we're to up with this other team at the west perimeter of the border. 'Eh, Sakura-chan, I wonder who the team we're going to meet with is. I hope its Hinatas, but its probably not, they were only on a simple escort mission." Naruto says with a suddenly withdrawn voice.

Come to think of it, she hadn't given much thought as to who the team they're set to rendezvous with is, but she had pretty goo idea as to who they might be now.

"Okay Naruto, We'll try make it their as fast as we can, 'eh, if we do have to stop for night, we'll just have to work extra hard tomorrow, got it?" She says to said boy who is now bouncing with excitement.

"You know it Sakura-chan, we'll make it there in no time easy." He says with his big goofy smile, adopting the pose of the two green-clad taijutsu experts, Gai-sensei and Lee, brimming with utmost confidence.

Rolling her eyes at his antics, they both come to a halt just outside the village gates where Naruto turns to his easily irritated pink haired companion.

"Ya ready Sakura-chan?" He asks in a suddenly cheerful voice.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She answers with a slight tilt at the corner of her lips. Forgetting the possibility that she'd be meeting up with her recent fixation sooner then expected, she revels in the feeling of being free from the confines of the village. Both of them starting towards there target simultaneously, one because he was excited about the prospect of a high class classified mission that was without a doubt a dangerous one. The other because it was her duty to fulfill at any cost, and was that a little bit of excitementshe felt at the thought of seeing her ex-sensei for the first time in months.


	4. Chapter 4

Having camped out the night, reluctantly, after realizing that, in their haste, the two young friends forgot to have a proper meal before setting out on their mission. Both of them starving and thanking the gods that Sakura had been proficient enough to bring a small amount of rations to sustain them until they arrived at the border where the other team was waiting.

Bounding through the forest, propelling themselves at an incredibly fast pace through the many trees that the Land of Fire had gained recognition for, the two young shinobi continued on their way towards the border of the Fire country.

In a surprisingly professional mood, both Sakura and Naruto had let themselves fly through the trees, not leaving much room for conversation. Sakura could feel the confidence and enthusiasm radiating off of the young man known for being an idiot yet having a knack for patching up any situation he deemed needed fixing, always readily and enthusiastically putting his life on the line just to prove his strength.

Oh well, that was Naruto she supposed, the number hyper-active knucklehead, Hero of the Hidden Leaf, he could definitely afford to be overly confident in his skills these days.

Sensing that they were nearing the border, the pinkette could feel a slight sense of trepidation settle in her stomach, not knowing for sure what she had been forced into.

'What if it is Kakashi and his team we're meeting up with?' She thought to herself, inwardly cursing her shishou 'Why does she have to be so vague?' Sakura didn't know how she'd react to seeing him; she felt it was too soon, especially with the memories of her most recent steamy dream fresh in her mind. She had really hoped to be rid of them by the time she saw him next. She already knew that if she was going to see Kakashi, she wouldn't be able to help it if she unconsciously acting different around him.

Looking forward to the back of her blonde haired teammate who had raced ahead of her, she forced her mind to focus on catching up, placing her feet carefully on the tree branches and pushing with extra force.

* * *

Now following directly behind Naruto, too busy looking at where her feet were going and her surroundings, Sakura had to quickly catch herself when Naruto came to an abrupt halt a couple meters ahead of her.

"What the…? Naruto! " She started before Naruto turned to her, now with a reddish-orange hue around his eyes and the distinct amphibious irises that immediately told her he had gone into Sage Mode. Pointing down in at the ground some meters away, grinning at Sakura he bounded off in that direction, Sakura following directly behind, wondering what had gotten into him.

Jumping out of the trees, both landing with the stealth every good shinobi possessed, looking around, Sakura was still confused as to why Naruto had brought them here, until she sensed several chakra signatures surrounding them.

So that's what he was doing, Sakura knew his ability to sense other chakra signatures had heightened considerably in the state he was in, which is probably why he had activated it in the first place.

"Ngaaw, Come on you guys, I know you're there." The blonde knucklehead blurts out, sounding awfully familiar with the group of ninja now surrounding them.

Before Sakura could process what Naruto had said, three figures appeared above them in the trees before falling gracefully into the shadows of the trees, still effectively cloaking their identities from the oblivious pink haired kunoichi.

"Okay, First things first." One of the shinobi called out in a calculated, familiar voice. Though it was not the one Sakura may or may not have wanted to hear, she couldn't put a name to the speaker just yet.

"When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames." The unknown shinobi says, before falling into an expectant silence, presumably looking in the direction of her and her teammate.

Realizing that this was probably the beginning of the code her and Naruto were meant to recite, looking over to Naruto, who was now turned in her direction with an expectant look on his face. Sighing at the blondes obvious dependency on her, Sakura fumbles through her pack, searching for her mission scroll. Pulling it out of one of the compartments inside the bag, she whips it open finding what looked like the rest of the code.

"The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again, tree leaves shall bud anew." Looking up, while folding her scroll up and fitting it back into her pack, the three concealed figures stepped out of the shadows to reveal themselves to the two young ninja.

"HA! I knew it was you three all along" Naruto calls out, with his finger pointed out at them.

'Gah, Naruto, some things will just never change' Sakura concluded as she assessed the three shinobi in front of her, who had fully unconcealed themselves in the presence of allies.

Almost immediately, a feeling of relief flooded through Sakura when she layed her eyes first on the only other female present, her sempai and fellow medic, Shizune, who gave a quick nod to her kohai and in turn walking over to clap Sakura on the shoulder in a silent greeting before going to sit on a log stationed at the edge of the small clearing.

Looking at the other two familiar faces, who she recognized as Genma Shiranui and Raido Namiashi, two of the most powerful jounin in the village, yet not quite on par with Kakashi.

'Kakashi' .This was his team, she knew, so where was he? Feeling somewhat relieved, and what was that. Was she disappointed? Pushing that thought away, she turned her attention to the other female kunoichi. 'No, you are not disappointed, you should be relieved that he's not here now' Sakura told herself before walking towards Shizune.

Eager for answers, Sakura started towards Shizune who had busied herself by emptying the contents of the big pack she had been carrying on her back out onto the forest floor, revealing all the equipment the skilled kunoichi needed.

Looking up from her current task, seeing the younger woman walking towards where she was sitting, Shizune shuffled to the side, leaving room for the pinkette to sit.

"Neh, Sakura-san, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, after looking at the ragged faces of these men for months." Shizune says whilst Sakura takes a seat next to her.

"Eh, surely they're not that bad company Shizune-san." Sakura answered in a voice she hoped was casual. To which the seemingly oblivious older woman replied with a snort, not fitting the feminine air she always radiated.

"Hmph, Trust me, four months with them takes a toll on your sanity. Men. So simple minded yet complicated at the same time." Even so, her words contradicted her tone of voice and the fond look that crossed her face when she took a quick glance at two of the men in question. But Sakura still didn't miss the way the older medics eyes lingered for what felt like seconds,but was probably just half a second, longer on the senbon sucking jounin, who was now sitting in a make shift chair next to his partner and her own teammate, looking they we're deep in conversation.

Humming, Sakura couldn't help dwelling on it for a bit, 'What was that just now? Did something happen between these two?'

Not wanting to pry, even though her curiosity had been peaked, Sakura tried to come up with a way to bring up Kakashis name in casual conversation and find out where he was.

"Ah, so Shizune-san, what's this mission about? The scroll didn't say much, and shishou was really vague when she was explainig what we had to do." Sakura asks, hoping to ease some of her anxiety relating to objective of the mission.

"That's typical of my Lady." The older kunoichi says before spilling whatever she could about the mission to the expectant young woman.

"Well, we we're sent on this mission to infiltrate a newly formed organisation that has popped up out of nowhere. We've only just managed to start tracking them and now we're trying to get an operative In to assess the situation from the inside and see what they're up to." The usually energetic older woman said with an exasperated sigh, relaying the progress of the mission to the younger medic. Sakura couldn't blame her for being a little irritated. To have already spent so much time on one mission and ending up with a disappointingly low amount of progress.

"They must be pretty smart to have avoided you guys of all people for this long." The pink haired kunoichi said, trying to lift the spirit of the other woman a little bit. But seriously, this organisation must know what they're doing to have avoided them. It was no secret that these four had some the best and most impressive track records of all the shinobi in Konoha. No wonder her shishou had sent them four to do this, she could never be too cautious after the disastrous effects the last unknown organisation had, not only on the Hidden leaf, but much of the other countries that had been caught in the crossfire as well.

"Yes, but we have a feeling we're starting to get somewhere now, the leaders of the organisation came up with an ingenious cover to freely travel around wherever they want to." The older woman says.

"Impossible, what could possibly allow them that kind of freedom, even if they really are criminals?" Suddenly, Sakura asks, turning her wide eyes towards her sempai, waiting for the answer.

"They're a travelling circus."


	5. Chapter 5

What? A circus, was she serious? They were up against a group of freaks who did neat tricks for money. How formidable could they be? Not really believing it, Sakura just ended up sitting there in a confused state. 'Okay, don't underestimate the situation Sakura, she must be serious if they've really been having this much trouble with them.' The pinkette thought, willing her brain to think seriously.

"Neh, you two care to join us?" Calls Genma.

Snapping to attention, Sakura watches as Shizune-san stands to walk over to the small circle the three men had formed since their arrival, sitting directly across from Genma, who looked up briefly to flash the suddenly flustered looking woman a quick smile. Standing up to head in the same direction, for the first time realizing the fire that had been put together, that now had a suspicious looking animal roasting over it; she started for the empty seat next to Raido.

"Sakura-san." The quiet man says with a quick nod before turning back to roasting the meat over the fire. Nodding back and answering with a polite "Raido-san." Sakura settles down on the log next to him.

"So I'm going to assume that Shizune-san has brought you up to speed on the mission and our progress so far, 'eh Sakura-chan." The senbon sucking jounin says to the pink haired women.

"Ah, Yes. What's the plan?" The pinkette answers, not really knowing what else to say.

Looking at the young woman for a few seconds before replying, probably trying to find a way to explain it to her, the brown haired ninja starts again.

"Well, one of our operatives is still following them closely, we've come up with a plan, but we needed you to execute it."

"Eh? Why me? What do you need me for?" The confused young woman blurts out, followed by the sudden outburst of her blonde haired teammate.

"And why am I here if you just needed her?"

"Well, you're here Naruto for back-up, just in case. And for us to get in with those circus brats, a person would have to have to possess a certain, exotic quality." Being that the brown haired shinobis answer was so vague, instead of shedding light on the plan for the two young shinobi, it had only served to confuse them more.

"Why would you need back-up? A certain exotic quality, what the hell does that mean?" The young kunoichi fired back, mildly exasperated at not being able to understand the brown haired shinobis vague responses to their questions.

"Frankly speaking, we needed you because of your odd hair color Sakura-san. Every single person in that group of freaks has a strange hair color, and most of them are exceptionally beautiful." The other kunoichi of the group cuts in, sensing the shifting mood of the young woman who was known to have a fiery temper that could rival that of the fifth Hokages.

Finally catching on, Sakura and Naruto looked at each other, before bursting out laughing, tears of happiness leaking from the corners of their eyes. Holding her stomach, trying to calm down long enough to respond to that ridiculous notion, Sakura took deep breaths before replying, over the loud chuckles of her the blonde boy sitting across from her.

"Okay, I'll be the first one to admit to having an odd hair color, but, exceptionally beautiful? Come on, that has to be the funniest thing I've heard in weeks." Not believing for one minute that she, with her average looks, accompanied with her waifish body and billboard brow could live up to that expectation.

"I mean, have you guys heard of henge jutsu, this is the exact situation that technique was made for." Still giggling, she turned hee attention to the brown haired shinobi about to talk.

"That's too risky. We're working with a group that we have yet to identify the extent of their power and knowledge. If we'd sent in Shizune and they had caught on to the henge, we might have been an unnecessary confrontation, and who knows what condition we would have all been in after that."

Sobering up, Naruto put his head down before regarding the group.

"What? Brown and black hair isn't enough to get you in so we have to send Sakura-chan in there alone. If your right, she could be in serious danger, there is still a chance that she'll be found out too. What if we can't back her up in time? We don't know what they could do to her"

Suddenly irate, Naruto stands up pointing a finger in the direction of the brown haired shinobi.

"Yes, Naruto, we've already thought all of that through, but it's less likely if she just goes in there as naturally as possible. If it's her, she won't have to keep up the henge jutsu the whole time, they shouldn't suspect a thing." The senbon sucking ninja answers, resting his head in his hands, looking wary, as if all the questions had slowly exhausted him. Sakura could tell he was a relatively calm man, but dealing with the inquisitions of her and the blonde idiot had to be waning on his patience.

"Plus, she isn't going in there alone." The older kunoichi cut in again, making the heads of the two younger shinobi snap to her.

"Ah, I don't think blonde is that exotic of a color, right?" The young pinkette says, looking at Naruto who now had a sheepish smile on his face, scratching the back of his neck.

"A-and I wouldn't exactly say I was exceptionally good looking either."

"Eh? We weren't talking about Naruto you idiots, stop assuming things and let me finish."

Taking their seats after the older woman spoke.

"Well then who is it?" In a quiet voice, the now slightly scared blonde asked, hoping that it wouldn't make the frustrated kunoichi even more angry.

Starting again, Shizune tries to finish explaining the plan to the two infuriating young ones before she blew, or even Genma, who had gone silent.

"Well, as we've been saying, our operative still on duty back there is trying to get in, and he has been successful in some of his endeavors, but now he needs a second agent to help him really out."

Impatient as she was, Sakura couldn't wait any longer. The two older shinobi might have thought they were being straight forward in explaining the plan to them, but she still hadn't completely caught on. 'Gah, why do the shinobi of that generation have to be so vague, just like Kakashi.'

Wait, she had completely forgotten about him. Deciding to just ask already, she blurted out the burning question.

"Wasn't Kakashi meant to be on your team, Where is he? Why isn't he here?"

"Kakashi. Oh, didn't I say. He's the operative that requested you for this mission. You two are going to be working together again." The older kunoichi says, sounding as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

'Shit', cursing her luck, Sakura wonders what she had done to anger the gods.

Why did she have to be put in position that forced her to work with someone she had completetely wanted to avoid for the time being?

Damn it all. Why couldn't she have just been born with normal brown or black hair? Then she wouldn't have to be here.


	6. Chapter 6

Ever since they had started heading back to the station that the four older shinobi had set up for their prolonged stay, her nerves had been shot. She wasn't able to focus on the journey at all. Several times she had been caught by Naruto, who had thankfully been hanging back with her. She didn't know if he could sense her reluctance to arrive at the targeted area, but if he did, it didn't show.

For what felt like days of travel to the wary mind of the stubborn young woman, the five ninjas pushed their bodies, trying to make it back to their stationed area as fast as possible. Stopping occasionally to refuel, the journey was relatively fast, except for Sakura, with the somber mood she was in.

She wasn't ready to face him yet, she was still having racy dreams about him, and she couldn't shake the new feelings that developed every time she thought about him. The whole way there, she had been trying to find excuses to delay their arrival, but because "they" happened to be four of the highest ranking shinobi in her village, she never stood a chance against their strong, stubborn and independent characters. Finally giving in, she just let her body keep pace with the other shinobi, reluctantly resigning to the inevitable.

About a half hour after the announcement that they were getting close, the three older shinobi who had been in front the majority of the time had slowed down, and then suddenly, they all jumped from the trees, landing on the forest floor, Naruto and Sakura following immediately after them. Curiosity peaked again, Sakura wondered where they were going, she hadn't seen a clearing around in any direction for miles. Following the three older shinobi who looked like they knew where they were going, they came to the rock face of a cliff that Sakura hadn't noticed while they were up in the trees, 'Was this always here'. She wondered.

Stepping up to the rock cliff, looking to Naruto at the same time he had turned to her. She had a quizzical look plastered all over her face; the blonde knucklehead just shrugged and turned his head back to the huge cliff.

Chanting the words to what sounded like a complicated jutsu, Raido stepped up to the wall, placing his two fingers over a seemingly random spot, until a small piece of paper became visible, as if it had just been hidden behind a thin layer of rock and surfaced when the quiet man touched the area on top of it. Having seen stranger things in life, Sakura wasn't too fazed by it, until, in the place of the little tag was now a large doorway leading into a dark looking tunnel.

Not hesitating at all before stepping into the darkness, the three older shinobi stepped into the doorway, prompting the two younger shinobi, who both hesitated, to hurry up before it closed on them.

Stepping into the darkness, hearing the scraping of rock against rock, as presumably, the doors to their hidden cave were shutting, almost immediately, the tunnel like hallway was illuminated by charmed torches hanging off the walls.

Following after Raido who had gone ahead after opening the door and letting the other two older shinobi hang back as they made their way through the seemingly endless tunnel.

Finally seeing what she thought to be light up ahead, nearing an opening, Sakura let her eyes adjust to the bright light suddenly shining through the tunnel.

Entering straight into what she assumed was the the place they had been living for the duration of their mission; she was overwhelmed at how massive it was. There was surely enough room to fit a small village in there, and yet, the only sign of inhabitants was the three small tents placed roughly in the middle of the massive room. It was actually quite amazing. They had set up what looked like a rough but workable kitchen on one side of the big space, with a table and chairs obviously made from logs that must have picked up off the forest floor. They even had what looked like toilets on the other side of the room, opposite of the kitchen.

She quickly realized that in the months they had been here already, they had really made themselves a home away from home. This cave was surprisingly dry, warm too. Probably the work of a jutsu one of them had at their disposal, she wouldn't be surprised if it was all Kakashis…

Suddenly remembering her earlier trepidation, Sakura took a proper look around, wondering if the "man of her dreams", literally, was here and if he would make an appearance.

'Get it together Sakura; it's just Kakashi, no one special'. Unable to get her heart rate under control, which suddenly started soaring when said man came to her mind. She wouldn't let herself get excited for no reason; she didn't even know why her body was reacting like this.

She kept telling herself to calm down; she really hoped that the other people hadn't picked up on her bodies' sudden and strange reaction to the possibility of finally seeing Kakashi. It felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. 'What the…?'

Why was she feeling like this? What was this feeling? She was freaking out. Why? What was happening to her? Had her dreams seriously gotten to her that much?

Frozen on the spot, the kunoichi thought she probably looked like a mad woman…

"Neh, Sakura-chan, they really know how to settle into a place, right?" The big blonde boy called out from across the room, snapping Sakura out of the daze that thankfully, nobody noticed she was in.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right." The young woman said, still holding onto the hope that Kakashi would appear at any time…

"Kakashi isn't here, but look, the circus is stopping at that village nearby to do a show tonight" The browned hair shinobi called to everyone, holding up a poster that probably had the information of the show on it, effectively slamming all hopes in the heart of the poor pink haired woman, now looking as if someone had kicked her dog.

"What'd ya say everybody, who's in the mood to go to the village to witness this freak-fest in action?" Exclaimed the blonde boy who was now looking at the poster he had just snatched from the hands of the older ninja.

"Well, it's not like we have anything better to do." The older kunoichi says from inside her tent, not sounding too enthused about it.

"We might as well." The quiet jounin sitting on one of the make shift chairs says, looking thoroughly bored.

"Whatever." The less then enthused response comes from the young kunoichi, standing in the middle of the floor with a sour look planted on her face, making everyone look at the girl with quizzical expressions, obviously curious about her sudden mood change.

"Okay, gear up; it looks like we're going into the village for a show." The command of the older brown haired shinobi called out.

With Naruto enthusiastically searching through his pack for normal civilian clothes, and the other three going at a leisurely pace, not quite as excited as the hyper-active blonde.


	7. Chapter 7

Arriving at the village a few miles away from the cave, the four shinobi, now clad in civilian clothing, who were trying not to stick out in the large crowd of people that had gathered outside the circus tent waiting for the opening.

Before they knew it, the large curtains of the tent began to draw back, allowing the eager audience to shuffle in.

Walking through the opening of the tent, all four shinobi made their way up the stands, positioning themselves right in the back, all of them surprised at how big the tent looked on the inside. Even with the enormous ring in the middle of the tent for the performers, all of the stands on the side of the ring stood at least a good two hundred and fifty feet off the ground, which definitely would've paralysed any person who was cursed with a fear of heights.

For anybody without though, not having the keen eye of a shinobi, it would almost be impossible for them to see what was going on down there.

The torches like magic had rapidly dimmed down to nothing but embers, sending the tent into a darkness that had an immediate effect on the noisy crowd, who were now mostly speaking in hushed whispers.

Suddenly, a spotlight from up above shone down on a short stubby man, who everybody assumed was the commentator of the show, the ring leader. Looking to the people next to her, first to Naruto who was now completely caught up in the show, and then to Shizune, who in turn looked back at the younger kunoichi, making eye contact with her, already knowing what the pink haired kunoichi was thinking, turning to Genma who was beside her and whispering something into his ear, before slowly pulling back with a blush that Sakura only just saw as her sempais face turned forward.

Smiling to herself, she sat back and started thinking.

'Is this the leader of the organisation?' Sure he looked like he didn't have a powerful bone in his body, but Sakura knew better than anyone not to judge a book by its cover.

* * *

Performer after performer had come out, from amazing acrobatic displays to handling incredibly dangerous animals as if they were your average domestic pet, Sakura would be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit interested, though not so taken by the show that she was sitting on the edge of her seat, like her blonde friend who was obviously enraptured by the show.

Sakura also had to admit that the information that the other team had gathered was disappointingly accurate. Besides the commentator, every other person that came into the ring always had strange hair colours, from A vibrant orange that even put that atrocious outfit Naruto use to sport to shame, to the kind of blue you would find at the deepest parts of the ocean.

And they were all beautiful, exceptionally so, as expected, with perfect bodies and faces. Many of them looked other worldly, as if they weren't even human, always moving, no , flowing around the ring as if they knew they owned the crowd, moving in mesmerizing ways.

After what seemed like fifty different performers, the commentator returned to the ring.

"Tonight, we have allowed you all to see some of the most amazing, miraculous acts known to man!" He started over the applause of the crowd following the last performance.

"But now, I will be showing you all an act that has never been shown, it is so amazing, you might think that it is impossible, but I assure that what you are about to see is absolutely, positively real."

Stepping back slowly out of the spotlight, already feeling the tension in the room building, Sakura dropped her eyes down to the ring, waiting for the next "Unbelievable" perfomer to make his entrance.

From the outside of the ring, someone must have started a drum roll. Slowly, the tent filled with the thundering sound of the crowd stomping their feet, further raising the tension. Sakura had let herself be captured in the sensation staring intently at the ring below.

Suddenly, a man clad in a nothing but a pair of flimsy briefs, just covering his delicate bits, and a cap on top of his head. Not what she was expecting, or anyone else in the room for that matter.

'That's strange' the ever perceptive kunoichi thought, wondering why this performer was allowed to cover his hair, contradicting one of the signature aspects of the show.

Quickly disregarding that fact, not really willing to dwell on it, the kunoichi brought her mind back to the scene ahead. Unable to keep her eyes from lingering on the impressive body of the man in the ring now, well defined with sinuous muscles running through his not too bulky arms, but not scrawny at all. Moving her eyes down to admire his torso, with the prominent pectorals and the killer abs, unconsciously Sakura licked her lips…

"Sakura-san, this is the first time I've seen you settle down to reallt enjoy the show." The older woman sitting next to her said, waiting for the younger woman to look up at her.

"Did something finally catch our eye?" The older woman whispers to her kohai, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at the young woman.

"Hah! No, that's ridiculous; I'm just wondering why he has a hat on his head, aren't you?" The pink haired woman responds, hoping to divert the conversation off of her slip up of letting her damned hormones take over for a few seconds.

"That is weird. Let's just see where this goes." The older woman replies, thankfully dropping the topic.

Returning her eyes back to the stage where the man stood with something she presumed was a voice projector.

Coughing first, the man went to talk into the little gadget, making almost everybody in the tent slide to the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting the words bound to come out of the mans mouth.

"Ah, hello. I'm new to this so just, stay with me here for a bit alright." The man says, starting up murmurs in the crowd.

Sakura sat there replaying the words in her mind, not really caring for the words exactly, but the voice, that voice. It sounded familiar, but not exactly, she just couldn't put a name or a face to it. Heck, she was probably just hearing things.

"Okay, for this trick, I'm going to need a volunteer to come down and help me." The man says, eliciting yelps of people from all directions, mostly woman, trying to gain his attention. As much as Sakura wanted to stand up and try to get his attention as well, she knew it would be dangerous.

Returning her attention back to the man who was now searching the crowd for possible candidates, she watched as he twirled around, coming to a stop, facing in the direction of her and her companions. Trying to get a better look over the crowd to see who had been chosen, Sakura raised her head to get a glimpse of the lucky person, waiting for him to call them out.

"You, can you come and help a desperate man out?" The man finally said pointing up in her direction, but that was impossible, there is no way he could see her all the way up here.

Looking down at the seats below her, people all pointing to themselves, the kunoichi sat there until the real one started going down.

"You, All the way in the back with the hat. Sitting next to the blonde man." He said, still pointing in her direction, where all four shinobi were seated.

The confused young woman turned to her blonde friend, who was already staring at her with wide eyes, before pointing to herself in a small gesture and mouthing a quick "Me?"…

"Yes, you." The man called, snapping the two shinobi back to his direction.

That's impossible, how could he possibly…?

"Sorry to rush you sweetheart, but we're kind of in the middle of a show. So of you don't mind."

The man says again gesturing for her to come down.

For the lack of anything better to do, Sakura stood up, pointing to herself in a more pronounced way, resulting in the man nodding his head.

Slowly, Sakura made her way down the tall stands, ignoring the wide eyed stares and glares of the other audience members.

Finally making it to the ground after what felt like a lifetime. She hesitantly steppped through the small gap in the rings barrier, walking up cautiously to the man.

When she finally stood in front of him, he pulled her to stand right next to him, addressing the audience. Looking up to see if she could see her comrades at this distance, she let her eyes adjust before seeing the shocked expressions on each of their faces, looking back at her with unreadable eyes.

Turning her eyes back to the man currently keeping her planted next to him, still holding her arm, Sakura tried to get a glimpse of his face underneath the hat, when suddenly he turned directly to her, bending over to whisper something into her ear.

So dazed by his beautiful face, that face that was so beautiful she just froze where she stood. She barely registered his words.

"Sakura, just follow my lead okay."

WAIT! How does he know my name?

Grabbing the unsuspecting kunoichi around the waist and hoisting both of them up in the air landing on a plank high up on the tents roof. The man leaned over as if there was a show happening below.

Suddenly, the crowd went into hysterics, crying out in surprise and despair at whatever jutsu these unsuspecting civilians were now being subjected to. The young medic wasn't stupid, whoever this man was, he must be exceptionally skilled to bring a huge room of people to their feet, making them believe whatever image he was projecting for them.

Just when the noise of the crowd started to reach critical levels, the kunoichi was once again hoisted up. Falling to the ground as gracefully as he could, obviously an experienced shinobi, Sakura wondered what she had inadvertently gotten herself into.

Suddenly finding herself in a cloud of smoke, Sakura looked up again at the crowd of people who had abruptly gone silent. Probably trying to come to terms with whatever they had just seen.

When a sudden clap could be heard from crowd, which started off more and more clapping until everyone was out of their seats, cheering hollering, for whatever reason Sakura was not privy to. Sakura took the chance to look up at her comrades, who unlike the rest of the crowd looked thoroughly unimpressed, with the exception of Naruto who was clapping and cheering along with everyone else.

'Gah, typical unperceptive Naruto'

Trying to push away from the man still holding her around the waist, Sakura struggled to get loose, starting to lose her temper at whoever this man was, daring to challenge her. Now glaring daggers at the man, she didn't care how handsome he was, he would feel the pain of someone who chose to mess with her. Sakura was trying to rein her temper in when the man turned her, catching another glimpse of his face, Sakura had to do a double take when she saw a scar running down his the left eye and extending a little bit down his cheek.

Swallowing the non-existent saliva in her suddenly dry mouth, hoping she wasn't just imagining it, when the man opened his left eye, revealing a quick flash of red and black. Now frozen in place, Sakura let this now all too familiar presence release his grip around her waist, to take a bow before his audience, removing his hat in the process revealing an all too familiar shock of silver hair underneath.

The man she now recognised, her body immediately reacting to his presence, turned to her, flashing a brilliant smile, signature eye crease in place; he thanked her and prompted her to return to her seat.

Not fast enough to get moving, Sakura just stood there with her heart beating a relentless rhythm against her rib cage, bursting in her ears, still too shocked to start move.

"Ah, it seems our dear has been so badly affected by seeing this man practically ripped to shreds and then appearing before as if it was all just a dream. A vision." The commentators voice sounds managing to penetrate the wall in her mind that was keeping her from moving. Snapping her out of her dazed state.


	8. Chapter 8

Finally able to turn her head, seeing the little man coming towards her and Kakashi, her head snapping down towards the ground, seeing Kakashi in her peripherals shift subtly in between the uncharacteristically meek looking young pinkette and the oncoming man.

"Well, my talented performer, your little trick sure is mesmerizing; don't you think so everyone?" The now insignificant commentator man called, directing his question towards the audience, eliciting a roar of cheers and stomping.

"You have been a lovely audience and I regret saying that we have to the end of the show my friends. My performers need their rest as well. So if you could all please start exiting the tent, it would be much appreciated." The little man said with a little break before continuing.

"I hope you all enjoyed the show. Come back to see us next time we're in town." He ends while the crowd slowly starts filing out.

Turning his attention back to the pink haired young woman and his newest "performer", the man regards her briefly before turning to Kakashi.

"That was rather rough don't you think, for the first time." Chuckling, the small man continued.

"But it was perfect, I haven't heard a crowd going like that in years, you're a natural my friend."

Regarding the man with false admiration Kakashi responds in kind.

"O-oh, I-I don't know about that." Kakashi says with a sheepish grin.

"HAHA! Don't be so modest my boy; you're going to be huge." The commentator replies before a wistful look settles on his face.

"Well, I'm going to take my leave now if that's okay. I'll be back early tomorrow, ready to depart." Kakashi says to the smaller man with an eager smile.

"Oh, you can expect us to be waiting here for you." The commentator says, smiling big at his new recruit.

Turning to regard Sakura properly for the first time, walking around Kakashi to get a better look, no doubt seeing how much of a genuine mess the young woman was.

"You are welcome to leave now my dear, be on your way now." The small man says before turning to walk away.

"WAIT!" The silver haired man exclaimed, halting the commentators retreating figure.

Looking at Kakashi for the first time since discovering it was him. Already looking down at her, Sakura immediately drew her eyes to his lips that were mouthing something to her.

Oh, those lips. Those soft looking thin lips that she appreciated way too much, instantly mesmerized by the way the upper and lowers lips were moving against each other in a sensuous display that riveted the young woman.

Now that she thought about it. When she was dreaming about her and this delicious man standing in front of her, looking as if he had just stepped out of her fantasies, the dark sexy fantasies of "Dark inner Sakura". She realized that her dreams had not done him justice. He was the epitome of something Sakura might have considered a god, with his rippling pectorals and rock hard, lean body that just made her wet thinking about.

And then his face. Perfect angelic features. Realizing again that, in her dreams, her mind had yet to conjure up an image of her male companions face, only showing the parts that she had seen, which was really enough, with the piercing look in the eyes that the man sported in the most steamy and heated moments in her dreams.

If this was the real face of Kakashi, the man whose face she had never seen in all the years she had known him, she knew her mind could not have come up with this kind of perfection. Even with the long scar from that long ago mission running down his face, it only added to the look, makinf him look rough and sexy.

Nudging the dazed looking woman softly in the arm to get her attention, Kakashi mouthed the words to her again.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Sakura turned her attention back to Kakashi, really trying to concentrate on what he was mouthing and not the movement of his lips.

"Take off your hat." The silver haired man mouthed, forcing the kunoichi to remove the hat, letting her pink locks fall free, framing her face.

Turning to the silver haired man again, the commentator did a quick double take as his eyes caught on the pink haired young woman with a surprised look, that changed into something more sinister as he started to towards the her.

Moving around the much larger body of the silver haired jounin, the short statured man walked up to Sakura eyeing her up from head to toe before stopping at her odd colored hair and then to her face.

"Well isn't that an odd hair color, my pretty." The man, shorter than the kunoichi said, coming up in front of the young woman to reach out and grab a loose strand of hair hanging over her shoulder.

Trying to fight the urge to brush the mans hand away, the pinkette looked down at the ground, letting the man play with the strand of hair, looking every bit the meek young woman she was trying to portray.

"We-well surely its nothing to unusual, with the eclectic mix of colors on the heads of each of your performers." The pink haired young oman said, trying to sound surprised and modest, adopting a pretense of false meekness.

"Well, I will admit to that. My performers all have a strange kind of look that I like to think puts them above others." The small man responded, still regarding the woman closely as he spoke.

"But not in all my years have I seen this shade of pink, and paired with those bright green eyes of yours my dear, I do find myself rather intrigued." The man said before continuing.

"Is this your natural color?" The man said, which prompted Sakura to give a quick nod before looking him in the eyes briefly and looking back down at the ground, looking flustered and embarrassed from all the attentions of the smaller man.

"What is your name,my pretty?"

"Sakura" The pink haired woman replies to the man, now looking the pink haired in a way that, if she was the kind, would have sent shivers up her spine.

"Ah, fitting, little cherry blossom." The man says, stepping away from Sakura and sighing. Continuing his inquiry.

"What is your living situation?"

Somewhat confused as to why he was asking, Sakura chanced a glance at the silver haired man beside her whom the commentator seemed to have completely forgot, wondering if he knew how to answer. Said man continued to look straight forward as if the wall ahead was the most interesting thing at that moment.

'Gah, what am I supposed to say?' Sakura thought to herself, wondering why Kakashi had suddenly shut himself off from the conversation, the young woman inwardly cursing him for getting her into this situation.

"A-ah, well, my family and I, w-we've been travelling across the country. We were just passing through the village when we overheard some of the villagers talking about a circus that had just arrived, we couldn't pass up the opportunity." Hoping that it was a believable enough lie, Sakura looked up through her eyelashes with a small smile on her face, still holding up the false pretense.

Looking as if he was contemplating something important, the man, who seemed to have taken a questionable interest in the pinkette and her life story looked down at the ground before sighing quietly. Looking up through her eyelashes, the expression on her face now a look of wonder, no doubt wanting to decipher the thoughts of the small man.

"Ah, such a shame. I like to think of myself as a collector of such gems like you, but alas, there is no way that I could possibly ask that of you." Stopping to smile at the young woman before continuing.

"I mean, I have never had someone with that shade of pink for hair join me and my company my dear, and frankly speaking, I would like nothing more at this moment then to have you join my perfomers and I on our travels. But that would be wishful thinking on my part."

Finally seeing the opportunity Kakashi had probably expected and set up, the pink haired young woman turned her attention on the small man.

"I must say that I am flattered by your, obvious interest in having me join you on your travels, especially since you seem the type of person who likes to surround themself with beautiful, aesthetically pleasing treasures, including the performers. But I find it hard to understand why you'd wish that of me."

"Well my dear, I have made it clear that your appearance intrigues me, and I simply want to have my interest in you put to rest, which would be much more simple if you joined us for the weeks coming. Though, I know that this is something I couldn't possibly ask of you, with your family outside waiting for their precious daughter."

'Hah! So thats how he wants to play." Catching on to his fake innocent act, Sakura came up with a quick reply that would either lead to a success or a massive failure.

"O-oh, I see. You are right though, I couldn't possibly leave my family so suddenly."

Looking up to the pinkette once again, with a thoughtful expression, the man finally relented, looking Sakura square in the eyes.

"Okay, I'll tell you what my dear. Go back to your family, think it over as you sleep. Surely a young woman your age is just itching to stray away from her family at some point. You know, it wouldn't be wrong of you to seek independence now, and I'm offering you an opportunity, so please reconsider." Said the man, almost pleading, knowing the right words to tempt the mind of a typical young woman.

Letting a thoughtful expression cross over her face, regarding the man as she pretended to contemplate what he said.

Looking at the man again, returning the scrutiny that he man had fixed on her.

"Okay, I'll think about it." Making a good show of acquiescesing to the unrelenting prompts of the small man. 'Cha! That should do it', Sakura thinks, inwardly pumping her fist in the air.

Suddenly stepping towards the woman, reaching to grab her hand.

"Oh please do my dear. I would be over the moon if you decide to join us."

Stepping back to look at the pink woman once again.

"If you do decide to join us little cherry blossom, we'll be here until morning, so you'll know where to find us." Looking towards the opening of the tent.

"Well, you best get going my dear, your family is probably wondering what has happened to you." The man says, turning the young woman in the direction of the exit.

"I do look forward to seeing you again my dear." He says lastly, turning back in the direction of the back exit of the tent, with a slight bow and wave before starting towards said exit.

* * *

Blowing out the breath she had been holding, Sakura watched the man walk out of the tent, suddenly remembering the other man that was supposed to be there.

Looking around the tent for the silver haired man, Sakura was surprised to find it empty, besides herself. 'Huh. Did he slip out while we were talking?" Surprised at the mans incredible stealth and at the fact that she hadn't noticed him leave the confused woman turned to stomp out of the tent, wondering where that elusive man had disappeared to.

Not unexpectedly, her comrades were nowhere to be found when she finally appeared outside of the tent, where there was very little signs of life. 'Damn, was I really in there for that long." Sakura wondered before concluding that Naruto and the others had gone ahead and were probably waiting at the cave for her return.

Starting towards the path in the forest that they had followed to get here, Sakura began her trek down the winding path, waiting until she saw the opening in the trees that would lead her back to the cliff.

Suddenly, she could feel a piercing sensation in the back of her neck, signalling that someone was watching her. Sakura stayed at the same pace as to not alert the presence watching her, bracing herself for what was coming.

Hearing a shuffle in the trees behind her, she swiveled around in a blur, whipping the kunai she had stashed in her leg strap, letting it fly towards where the noise had come from.

Freezing in her movements when the gravel directly behind her shifted, suddenly feeling the unknown presence behind her, so close, she could feel there warm breath run over her ears.

"Nice work back there little cherry blossom."


	9. Chapter 9

'Eh?' twisting her body around so fast that she lost her footing, Sakura stumbled trying to get her bearings when suddenly a hand shot out to steady her. Swallowing before looking up, the stunned pink haired woman just stared wide eyed at the chest of this person who had just appeared out of nowhere.

"Yo" The silver haired jounin greeted her, chuckling at the unusual clumsiness of the young kunoichi, still holding her arm to keep her steady.

Raising her head slowly, the pink haired woman suddenly found herself face to face, noses almost touching with the man that had been haunting her dreams and conscious mind for weeks now.

Revelling in the feeling of having the man so close to her, her heart beating in her ears making it seem like time had stopped for the moment, the young kunoichi had yet to notice the inappropriately close proximity between their bodies until she felt the soft warm breath of the silver haired jounin hit her face, finally snapping her out of her stunned state.

She instantly broke away from the man, practically pushing him away and jumping at least a meter in the air, instantly straightening up whilst trying to slow her heart rate and futilely trying to push the raging blush that had coloured her cheeks away.

"Why so jumpy Sakura-chan? Did I startle you that much?" The silvered man said, standing back, waiting for his only female ex-student to get her bearings and unleash her infamous temper that he had become so accustomed to throughout the years he had known the fiery kunoichi. With his hands in his pockets, looking every bit the lackadaisical, infuriating man the young woman had also come to know.

Forcing her head up to look at her ex-sensei, the irate young woman pointed in the direction of the silver haired man before fixing him with a fearsome glare that would have struck fear into the hearts of anyone unlucky enough to find themselves at the mercy of the pink haired kunoichi in full rage. Well, anyone who wasn't the incredibly unshakeable infamous Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake.

"Y-yo-you, I'm going to kill you Kakashi" The kunoichi called out with a strained voice, before lunging with a fist full of chakra, so fast that any lesser person would have been sent flying through ten trees. But then again, this was Kakashi Hatake she was dealing with. Having already anticipated the wrath of the raging pink haired woman, the silver haired jounin simply stepped out to the side, avoiding the first charge of the thoroughly pissed kunoichi, dodging every swing that was directed his way. Jumping back each time the kunoichi changed tactics from punching to crouching and swiping at his legs.

Still too busy trying to catch the infuriating man, the beyond furious woman was unable to sense the clone that the silver haired jounin had created. The clone had effectively caught the young woman off guard, pulling her arms around to pin them behind her back, knocking her off her feet to land unceremoniously on her knees in the dirt.

Letting a low growl build in her throat, the stubborn young woman, in her enraged state tried to break free of the tight grip the silver haired ninja had on her wrists, wriggling around to try and get back to her feet.

"Just Kakashi? Since when did you decide to drop the honorific Sakura-chan?" Chuckling, the silver haired jounin just stood behind the infuriated young woman.

Sakura instantly halted in her futile efforts to break free, thinking over that question.

'Well, probably when you told me to stop with the honorific while you we're…' The young woman stopped that process altogether as she resumed her wriggling round.

"Oh, I think we're way past the "sensei" stage don't you think" The young woman replied. Quoting bits of the line used by the silver haired jounin in her dream. The silvered haired man hummed before responding.

"Is that so? Huh, and here I was thinking my precious students still wanted to learn things from me." The man said, chuckling again before continuing.

"But since that no longer seems to be the case, I guess I have to get used to it." The silver haired man said whilst loosening his grip on the wrists of the young woman, pulling her to her feet.

"You aren't going to try and attack me once I release you now are you little cherry blossom." He continued, still trying to get a reaction out of the young woman who had reluctantly acquiesced to being handled by her much more skilled ex-sensei.

"I make no promises." The young woman forced out, still frustrated at being beaten at her own game.

"Fair enough." The silver haired man said, finally releasing her wrists, allowing her to straighten out her clothes and brush the dirt off.

"What?" The young kunoichi questioned as she realized the man now studying her face as if she had suddenly grown a beard or something. Scratching her chin self-consciously as the deep seated insecurity inside the young woman began to rear its head.

"Nothing, you just look… Different." The vague response of the silver haired man came, doing nothing to squash the negative thoughts running through the over-critical mind of the pink haired young woman.

'What's that supposed to mean? Does he think I look weird?' The young woman wondered, running a hand over her face, feeling unexpectedly gloomy.

'Eh, why do you care what he thinks?' The small voice inside Sakura said. The young woman shook her head, trying to shake the voice from her mind.

Why did she suddenly care about what he thought of her? 'HAH! Why would I care about that' the pink haired woman thought, denying the feeling of disappointment that had settled in her stomach at the sudden proclamation of the silver haired man.

'Of course he thinks you look weird, Billboard brow.' The pessimistic side of the pinkettes mind called, making the young woman sink into herself as the multiple sides of her mind inwardly fought for dominance over the turbulent feelings of the young kunoichi.

Coming out of her reverie, the young woman snapped out of the intense staring contest she had started with the unsuspecting forest floor, turning her head up to the silver haired man who had cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Ah, now that we've gotten that over with, don't you think we should be getting back to the others." The silver haired man said as he scratched the back of his neck, looking at the kunoichi in question with a quizzical look.

'What's that look about?' The young woman wondered briefly before deciding not to dwell on it for the sake of her sanity which was being slowly ground down by her ever curious mind which was going crazy with all the questions and feelings that pertained to the one man.

"Yeah, let's get going" The pink haired woman said before pushing off the ground and landing gracefully on a tree branch in the tree above. Not leaving room for the silver haired man to respond.

Following suit, the silver haired jounin gracefully jumped up into the tree, looking at the kunoichi briefly, who now had a mask of concentration on her face, before taking off through the trees in what Sakura assumed was the direction of their hide out.


	10. Chapter 10

After Kakashi had taken the lead in heading back to the hide out, Sakura intentionally lagging behind so that she could avoid being alone with the overly perceptive silver haired man. The young woman knew it was dangerous to constantly be thinking about the man who was now a fair distance in front of her, heck; she had already let her guard down twice so far since being here.

So hung up was she on certain "things", her supposedly unfailing perceptiveness had utterly failed her during the show when she was completely oblivious to the identity of the man standing next to her. He hadn't even really been trying to hide his identity from her. When he had whispered her own name into her ears, she should have known absolutely who it was, yet she didn't even have a clue, only focusing on how he knew her name. The young woman was embarrassed to say the least.

And back then when she had failed to pick up the presence of the other ninja until it was too late, if it had been an enemy ninja, the kunoichi knew for sure that it would not have gone as smoothly.

The young woman thought he must have been ashamed by her, being one of his subordinates as well as being the one female student he had mentored years ago. She knew he would never say it to her face, but sometimes his silence was as much of an indication of his disappointment as any words he would have said, if he was the type to scold.

Maybe she was just letting her insecurity and self-consciousness get to her, but she knew, if he was feeling any of the thing she thought he was feeling, she probably deserved it.

Looking forward, the kunoichi let her eyes move to the man now meters ahead of her. She couldn't help it as her eyes began to wander up and down the figure of the retreating figure, letting her eyes linger on his firm looking butt, even though the baggy pants he was wearing hung off his hips, unconsciously licking her lips at the sight. So distracted was the kunoichi, yet again, she was caught off guard as the man in front of her came to an abrupt stop in front of her.

Stopping just in the nick of time before crashing into the silver haired man, the young woman caught herself on an overhead branch to swing around and ending up next to the other ninja.

"Distracted by something Sakura? What's up with you? Surely Tsunade-sama hasn't been keeping you so busy at the hospital that you're suddenly acting like your old genin self" The silver haired man said, turning to the pink haired woman with a quizzical expression on his face.

Shocked at what the man had just said, the young kunoichi just continued to look straight forward, almost looking like she hadn't heard what he had said at all.

'How could he say that?' The young woman thought. Of course she wasn't the same pathetic, love sick child she was back then. She was strong now, a jounin and one of the best medics in the entire Fire country.

Turning to the silver haired man, Sakura just couldn't find any words to respond. Those words had hurt. He was obviously disappointed with her, but how could she explain why she was suddenly acting like the pathetic excuse for ninja that she was when Team 7 had first been formed. Even she knew she was just dead weight in the team that consisted of the supposed last Uchiha and the Kyuubi container, not to mention having one of the most renowned ninja in Konoha as their sensei. She had worked so hard to break away from that character, seeking the mentorship of one of the strongest kunoichi the Fire country had ever known, becoming her apprentice and learning things the silver haired man would never have bothered to teach her.

Now to hear those words coming out of the silver haired jounins mouth, practically scolding her, the woman was on the verge of tears. But she would never willingly show weakness in front of this man, because deep down, she knew he was one of the reasons she had tried to become stronger, tried to prove her worth on a team that was far beyond her in many ways.

She didn't even know why her mind and actions were so jumbled. All she knew is that it was this man, who had crushed her, emotionally with very few words right now, the same man that had been consuming her mind for weeks now was standing here next to her, making her feel like she wasn't worth being a ninja.

Looking forward again, fixing her eyes on the trees ahead of her, the kunoichi jumped down from the branch they were perched on, landing gracefully on the forest floor before racing forward in the direction of the hide out, leaving the stunned silver haired man in her dust trail.

She didn't know why she had suddenly taken off on the ground, she just felt that she needed to escape the much too perceptive man before he started to jump to conclusions, not that she thought he would ever guess right. As smart as he was, it was hard to believe that the much older man would come to the right conclusion, that his much younger ex-student had been having steamy wet dreams about him every night, and that those same dreams were now plaguing her conscious mind.

Sakura knew though, that to answer the seemingly simple questions the silver haired man had asked her, she would be opening up a completely different part of herself that she had locked up tight in the back of her mind ever since the dreams had stirred her feelings and mixed up her perception of right and wrong. She thought she was wrong, or that something was seriously wrong with her now that she was finally seeing the man in real life, totally oblivious to her new feelings towards him and to the reason of her uncharacteristic behaviour.

The distraught young woman carried on through the underbrush of the trees, propelling herself with chakra laden feet so fast that it seemed she would crash into any obstruction that got in her way. Trying to force all of the negative thoughts from her mind, not focusing on anything else but the main objective, which was to get back to the hide out and stay out of sight of anyone who would question her lack of tact during this mission.

Her heart was beating so fast since the man had stopped to ask those questions and insult her in the same breath without even batting an eye. The young kunoichis feelings changing from sad to angry as she continued to inwardly berate herself. 'Who does he think he is? He has no right to say such a thing, I was under his tutelage at that time and he had not once tried to personally teach me anything as he did with the boys.' The young woman found her temper rising the more she thought about it.

Finally, she caught sight of the cliff through the trees, nearing rock face until she was forced to come to a sudden halt.

"Well well, look what we have here. Little girls shouldn't be running around in forests alone girly."


	11. Chapter 11

"Well well, look what we have here." Stepping out of the shadows, four men appeared from behind the trees.

"Little girls shouldn't be running around in forests alone girly." The man who spoke before said looking around at his companions with a grin on his face before turning back to the pink haired woman, flashing her with a lascivious smile as he lowered his eyes down to wander over the figure of the young kunoichi.

Disgusted by the blatant ogling of the unknown man, Sakura inwardly scolded herself again. 'Gah! What the..? I didn't even sense them.' The young woman thought before twirling in a circle, assessing each man as they stood in a square, effectively surrounding her on all sides.

"Who are you?" The kunoichi called out reaching her hand down to the kunai strap on her leg as the man who had finished his own assessment of the young kunoichis body stepped forward.

'Damn you Kakashi.' The pink haired kunoichi inwardly cursed when she realized she hadn't grabbed her kunai after throwing it at the infuriating silver haired man back when he had decided to play that annoying practical joke on her. Raising her hands instead in a defensive stance, the kunoichi eyed the man ahead of her as he continued to size her up.

"Who are you?" The young woman called out again losing her patience with the men.

"Who are we? I think the question is, who are you?" The man Sakura presumed to be the leader questioned, still smiling at the pink haired woman in an arrogant way that made the fiery kunoichis blood boil.

"What do you mean who am I? I asked you first." The young kunoichi responded letting a hint of anger into her voice.

'We're right outside the hide out, why haven't Naruto and the others sensed them yet' the young woman wondered as she waited for the man to reply.

"A feisty one aren't you girly." The man called out before continuing.

"I'll tell you what Pinky, just let us do what we came here to do and we'll be on our merry way, promise." The man said holding his hands up in a gesture that suggested he was telling the truth.

Growling the pink haired kunoichi tried to keep her temper from rising any further as she heard the man call her out by that offensive nickname. Standing her ground as she saw the other three men crouch down into an offensive pose, waiting on the command of their leader to allow them to strike.

"And what is it you came to do exactly?" The irate kunoichi called out in a strained voice, trying hard to contain her anger as it flared each time the man in front of her moved. The young woman followed his movements closely, maintaining her visibility of the men to her sides, already anticipating a move from the man behind.

"Well, we were just passing through the area when we felt a spike of chakra coming from the direction you were just in Pinky. So naturally we got curious and came to investigate when we ran into you." The talkative man said before continuing.

"Imagine our surprise when we saw a flash of pink racing away in the opposite direction of where we were headed." The man said, chuckling quietly whilst looking over at his companions who all had stupid smirks plastered on their over confident faces.

"So I guess you could say that we were here to see you, since I'm assuming that spike of chakra was either your own doing or the doing of someone you were running away from. So, which one is it?" The man questioned the kunoichi, smirking at her.

Letting a smirk of her own work its way onto her face, the suddenly confident kunoichi fixed a glare on the man in front of her before answering his question.

"You sure are stupid, that kind of curiosity is what gets over confident idiots like all of you killed." The young kunoichi called out, eliciting snorts and grunts from the four men around her.

"Watch your mouth you little bit…" The apparent leader started to shout before being rudely interrupted by the kunoichi.

"The answer to your question is this." The pink haired woman said regarding the men on her sides before continuing.

"I was running away from somebody, a very strong somebody who's probably right on my tail now, and I know for a fact that you small fry won't be able to take him I any way possible if he manages to catch you, which wouldn't be a tough feat for him. But just a warning, he is rather ruthless if I do say so myself." The young woman finished, waiting for the reactions of the four men.

"Ah, I see. But if he is as powerful as you say, shouldn't he have already caught up to you by now?" The man questioned, an incredulous look taking over his face.

'GAH! He's right; Kakashi should have been here by now.' The young woman thought, remembering how she had sensed his chakra signature on her trail a few times while she was running. Now though, she couldn't sense anybody around. With no other choice, the kunoichi began to lie out of her teeth.

"Well I did have a fair lead. You should all consider yourself lucky that you're still alive, I could have killed you ten times over if I wasn't curious about who you all were." The pink haired woman called out, feigning an immense amount of confidence in her own abilities. Not that the kunoichi wasn't confident in her abilities, but she had to be cautious in this situation she had inadvertently gotten into. The strength and abilities of the four men were undetermined and she was outnumbered.

"Hah! You seem awfully confident girly." The leader spoke, eyeing the young kunoichi again but this time the look was more like he was trying to gouge her abilities just by looking at her.

"Don't underestimate us Pinky!" The man called out before crouching down into an offensive stance, mirroring the other four men surrounding the kunoichi.

Already having anticipated the strikes of the four men, the kunoichi went on the defensive, side stepping around the strikes and kicks that she was being barraged by, dodging the shuriken or kunai that the men threw at her. She let her chakra move to her fist as she tried to look for an opening to catch at least one of the men.

Changing her footing rapidly so that she was in a better position to swing at one of the men, the kunoichi struck her fist out at the closest man, hitting him square in the jaw and knocking him several meters up in the air before falling back to the ground with a loud thud. The kunoichi assumed he was knocked out by the way he had gone limp. 'CHA! One down.' The young woman thought, instantly falling back into a defensive stance. 'AH! There too fast' she thought again as the men were getting increasing closer to making contact with each swing.

"That's one hell of a punch you got there girly, but it's going to take more than that to beat us." The leader called out as his two companions continued to throw whatever they had at the slippery kunoichi who slipped out of their reach every time.

The young woman forced chakra into her feet, kicking out at another man, catching him off guard as she changed tactics so fast. The man was sent flying through several trees before knocking out as he struck his head on the last tree. 'Two down' the pink haired woman thought, stopping to catch her breath, continuing to eye the two remaining men, circling her as if she was the pray and they had cornered her.

'God, where the hell is Kakashi?' The young woman thought. Too distracted by the thought of where the infuriating silver haired man had gotten to, she wasn't fast enough to completely dodge the senbon that was flying at her from above in the trees. Slicing through the exposed skin on her cheek, the young woman thought nothing of it, until her vision began to blur.

"Wh-what did y-you just...?" The kunoichis unformed question abruptly coming to an end as she fell to the forest floor with blurred vision and a hazy mind.

"That my girl was an extremely potent sedative, which would be fatal if the dosage was too high." The supposed leader stated whilst crouching over the practically paralysed woman who was desperately trying to overcome the overwhelming urge to close her eyes. The two men started to laugh over the half conscious vulnerable kunoichi as she lay there.

"We're going to have so much fun with you now aren't we?" The leader said, directing the latter question at his last standing companion.

'Damn' was the last thought of the pink haired woman before reluctantly relenting to the overwhelming urge.


	12. Chapter 12

'Huh, where, am I?' The confused pink haired woman thought as she sat up. Realizing that she was in her tent in the hide out, the young woman tried to remember what had happened.

"Sakura-chan! You're finally awake." The obnoxious voice of her blonde teammate called before the face that matched the voice appeared through a small gap in the tent flap.

"Gah! Naruto, what happened? How did I get back in here? The last thing I remember is being drugged by those four ninja. How long have I been out?" The pinkette questioned the exuberant blonde as she recalled the last moments before knocking out, letting her frustration at what had happened leak out through her voice.

"Well, ah, we don't really know how you got like that, but now that you mentioned other ninja in the area, I guess that kind of clears up that." The blonde boy said, climbing into the tent to take a seat, scratching the back of his head as if just realizing how obvious that conclusion was before continuing.

"Kakashi-sensei just happened to be coming back from wherever he was. OH WAIT! He was coming back from the circus, 'Neh, Sakura-chan; did you know the man that called on you at the circus was Kakashi-sensei?" The blonde asked the disbelieving kunoichi at how unperceptive the blonde was.

'Eh, you can't talk, you didn't recognize him either' the pink haired kunoichi thought as she dropped her head in embarrassment before replying with a quick "Yes Naruto."

"Eh, really! I was really surprised when everyone told me. But of course you knew right Sakura-chan, you were always really good at things like that." The blonde boy said pouting before ending with a bright smile.

'Well apparently not as good as you think' the young kunoichi thought as she remembered how shocked she was when she found out who the man was. 'Wait a minute! Kakashi was the one who found me? He didn't catch those guys?' The young woman realized, feeling slightly perplexed as to how or why the four men had gotten away from the silver haired jounin of all people.

"Where's Kakashi now Naruto?" The pink haired woman finally asked after trying to come up with a logical explanation to the situation.

"Well, you've been out for a couple days now Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei had to go back to that circus so he could continue his observation as one of their performers." The blonde ninja said, leaning back on his arms to get more comfortable in the confined space of the tent.

'Damn, I was meant to go with him.' The woman realized before replying to the blonde boy.

"I was meant to go with him. Why did he leave without me?" The young woman questioned.

"He said you weren't needed anymore and that you should just stay here and rest." The blonde said, scratching the back of his neck, preparing himself for the lash out of the fiery temper of the pink haired woman.

'WHAT! I'm not needed for the mission anymore. NO WAY! 'The young woman shouted inwardly, cursing the man for his lack of confidence in her. Heck, he had called on her, now he just suddenly decides to send her back because of one incident, albeit, a potentially fatal incident. But still she was still capable of handling herself in any other situation; the four men had just caught her off her guard.

Whipping the blankets aside and fumbling her way outside of the tent, the irate kunoichi climbed out instantly starting the search for all of her mission equipment.

"Eh, Sakura-chan, what are you doing? You should still be resting." The blonde boy asked his teammate, stepping out of her way as she continued looking for her gear.

"There's no time, I have to get going. I have to catch up to that circus." The pink haired kunoichi called, still gathering all of her things.

"Stop Sakura-san, you're no longer needed on this mission. Just go back and rest so you'll be fit and ready to head back to the village" The older kunoichi called out stepping out of her tent at the same time that the other two older shinobi emerged from their own.

"No Shizune-san. We went out of our way to come here and help finish this mission, and I'll be damned if we're just going to be sent packing after just arriving." The determined kunoichi called, double checking all of her equipment.

"Well technically, you two have been here for a few days now, you've just been unconscious for the majority of that time." The older kunoichi replied, not taking a step forward to stop her, knowing that she really didn't want the obviously pissed pink haired woman to lash out at her.

"Sakura-san, it wouldn't be wise of you to go against the call of your sempai would it, the sempai who probably saved your life a few days ago." The senbon sucking jounin spoke as he stood by with his partner, prompting the young woman to calm down and think about what she was doing.

'Saved my life? HAH! I wouldn't have even needed saving if I wasn't actually so caught up on that man. If he had just shown up on time.' The kunoichi thought, briefly halting in preparation of her mission supplies.

"Saved me? He was right behind me when I was returning back here; he should have made it in time to help me fight off those ninja." The kunoichi replied, resuming her previous task, Prompting the other three jounin to look at each other with quizzical expressions on their faces as if the mention of other ninja had been news to them as well.

"Okay, okay. We get it; you want to prove that you're still strong enough to handle yourself on this mission." The older kunoichi accused.

"But Sakura, that drug they got you with was really powerful and I'm not quite sure of its effects right now. It could possibly have long term side effects that could hinder you if you choose to go forward with this mission. Just hang back a while so I can get a better understanding of it." The experienced poison expert stated, trying to get through to the stubborn young woman, who just brushed the words of her sempai off as if she hadn't really been listening.

"I feel fine now. If I could just go help him out like he did for me a couple days ago, I'll be fine." The young woman called out, faking concern over the insenstitive silver haired jounin, finally finished preparing all the gear she needed, strapping whatever she may need to her body just in case she had another run in with a group of rogue ninja.

'I hope I get to see those idiots again, make them think twice before underestimating me again." The young kunoichi thought, heading for the exit of the cave.

"Sakura-san, at least let one of us go with you, Naruto." The more talkative older shinobi called out to the blonde boy who had straightened up waiting for the command.

"No, I'll make better time if I go alone. You all stay here and wait, if I don't manage to catch up with Kakashi and the rest in a couple days, I'll just turn around and come back, good enough?" The kunoichi called, shooting glances at every other shinobi in the room.

"Okay, it's not like we could stop you, or we could, but that would call for an uncalled for fight which we don't have any more time for, so here's my rebuttal." The senbon wielding ninja said, stepping into the determined younger kunoichis way, blocking her only exit before continuing.

"Three of us will accompany you until we can identify the exact location of the Kakashi and the company keeping a safe distance, from there we will leave you to extract yourself into the group, though, by what Kakashi told us before he left, you were already set to join them. We will gear you up with whatever you may need." The older ninja stated, waiting for the reaction of the pink haired kunoichi.

'GAH! I guess I have no other choice.' The young woman acquiesced reluctantly, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to get away from the other four ninja unscathed.

"Fine!" The young woman called out, already making her way to the exit.

Standing his ground, the older ninja started.

"Look, if it was up to me, you would be on your way back to the village, but..." He stated, looking down at the young woman who was now shooting daggers at him, the man just shifted his weight to the other leg before continuing, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"…there I have my reasons as to why I have decided to let you go along with this, I feel like there's something suspicious going on. Kakashi didn't say anything about ninja being around and when he brought you in, you weren't in too much of a bad state, meaning that he wouldn't have been too far away when those ninja cornered you. And then, the fact that weren't able to sense them makes me think, either they are incredibly skilled at cloaking their chakra, or there was a glitch in our own cloaking jutsu." The older jounin said, the other four ninja all looking at each other, only just realizing all of the things that had happened, as if they were trying to put the puzzle that the brown haired ninja had presented to them together.

Contemplating everything that had just been said, Sakura had to admit, that was indeed shady.

"Well, I guess we better get moving then." The older kunoichi called out, prompting every other ninja to start preparing.

"Raido, you're staying to keep an eye on the place right?" The senbon sucking shinobi called to his partner who nodded at him.

'Well, I guess there's no other choice' the pink haired woman thought as she sat to wait for the other shinobi to gather their things.


	13. Chapter 13

Finally heading off on their trek to catch up to Kakashi and co, the four ninja moved silent and agile through the thick vegetation of the forest, with the most determined pink haired kunoichi taking the lead, letting the crowd of mixed emotions overwhelming her mind push her faster.

The young kunoichi was filled with different emotions pertaining to the mysterious silver haired jounin and how the mission was turning out, with the rather shady incident that had transpired days ago and the reason the silver haired jounin had kept that crucial bit of information from his teammates.

'What is Kakashi up to?' The burning question that had been etched into the brain of not only the pink haired kunoichi but also her companions, who were all equally as curious as the others.

* * *

The group had been moving steadily through the forest and various villages where they stopped to gather information on the whereabouts of the circus, for a fair two days now, only resting for a few hours at a time, at the most, with the restless energy of the stubborn pink haired kunoichi . The four ninja were making good time so they all had a feeling that they were finally closing in on their target.

Their feelings were confirmed when they were nearing a village and overheard some people, who they assumed to be residents of the village, talking excitedly about a circus that was supposed to be doing a show that night. 'Now what are the chances of another circus being in town?' The pinkette thought. Hearing this, the group convened just on the outskirts of the village to compare strategies on how to go forward with getting closer to the circus.

"Okay, Sakura-san, we'll stick around for a night to gather any intel we can from any of the villagers while you head off to the show." The older male jounin said, who had self-appointed himself as leader for the time being.

"Take these with you so you can keep us informed about anything that might be considered suspicious." The older kunoichi continued, whilst handing various assortments of gadgets and electrical devices to the pink haired kunoichi.

Looking down at the new equipment, the younger kunoichi spotted an air piece attached to different wires, assuming that this was one of the long ranged devices she had yet to use since she hadn't been on a field mission in a while. Arranging the wires and placing them gingerly into her pack, the pink haired kunoichi continued to tune in on the developments of the strategies now being thought up by the other shinobi.

"Sakura-san, do not tell Kakashi about this, make him think you've come here completely alone. Do not let on that you've been given spy equipment, your new objective as well as the main objective is to figure what the hell is going on with that emotionally challenged ex-sensei of yours." The senbon sucking ninja stated.

"Yes, I understand." The pink haired kunoichi readily agreed, also curious about the odd behaviour of the silver haired jounin.

"Are you set Sakura-san?" The older kunoichi questioned, prompting a quick nod and a "Yes" from the younger kunoichi preparing herself for the next part of her mission.

"Are you sure you don't want any of us to stay with you Sakura-chan?" The uncharacteristically quiet blonde ninja asked, speaking for the first time since arriving at the village, fixing his pink haired teammate with a concerned look.

"Yes Naruto, I'll be fine." The young kunoichi replied, touched by how worried the exuberant blonde ninja seemed to be, turning to face the man with a reassuring smile.

"Okay, this is it Sakura-san. Head into the village and look for the tent, find Kakashi immediately and find out what his objective is concerning this mission, and if there's nothing to be concerned about get through to us as soon as you can, same applies if things aren't so smooth sailing." The senbon wielding ninja ordered again. All four ninja standing up so that they could wish the young woman luck.

"Good luck Sakura-chan! We know you can do it!" The loud call of her teammate sounded causing the other three ninja to duck and attempt to hush Naruto as they tried not to alert any of the people passing by to their presence. 'Geez Naruto.' Was the collective thought of the other three ninja, simultaneously slapping their hands palm down over their faces in a show of mild exasperation at the blonde knuckleheads antics.

'God, if I ever actually make it out of here.' The young woman thought, referring to how the four of them were now crouching low behind bushes just off the path into the village.

"Okay, I'm ready." The pink haired woman said as all ninja began to stand and straighten themselves out.

"I'll be leaving now." The younger kunoichi stated once more before turning towards the opening of the trees leading onto the path.

"We'll be waiting back at the hide-out." The whisper-shout of the older kunoichi called to the retreating figure of the pink haired kunoichi.

'Yeah, yeah, I know.' The pink haired kunoichi thought as she through a quick wave over her shoulder at the others, making her way out of the bushes.

* * *

Starting through the village in search of the circus tent, the kunoichi, now clad in her own variation of civilian clothing made her way down the weaving roads of the surprisingly big village stopping every time her ears picked up any indication as to the whereabouts of the circus tent.

Finally managing to locate the tent, the young kunoichi pushed her way into the crowd who had accumulated outside the ten, blending in easily now that she had a hat on her head to conceal the shockingly bright pink hair, quickly finding a place to stand where she could just stand and think over what she was meant to do and how she supposed was the best way to execute them.

'First, locate the company.' The pink haired kunoichi thought, going over the tasks in her mind.

'Second, locate Kakashi.' Having just completed task one, the kunoichi knew she would probably have to get inside the tent before actually being able to spot the elusive silver haired man.

'Okay, he's probably around the back preparing for the show, well, whatever a man who performs in just his underwear does.' The young woman thought, trying not to think of the last time she saw the man in his "costume".

'Come on Sakura, this is not the time.' The pink haired woman scolded her inner for being so perverted at a crucial time like this.

Even so, the pinkette could not help the images that started racing through her mind at the thought of the admittedly good looking shinobi in several different positions which made the heart of the suddenly hot and flushed kunoichi beat harder in her chest, while she desperately tried to force the images, which she had managed to fend off for a couple of days now back out of mind so she could focus on the situation at hand.

'Damn it all.' The young kunoichi thought with her eyes cast down as she tried to fight for dominance over her mind with her the very evil and ever growing stronger "Dark inner Sakura" who was relentless in flashing the dirty, naughty images. All the kunoichis hard work at forcing the images back had been thoroughly flushed down the figurative toilet as all of those images forced their way back into her mind with a vengeance.

So caught up in that moment was she, the kunoichi was once again caught off guard as someone yanked her arm roughly, dragging her out of the crowd.


	14. Chapter 14

'Eh? What the..?' The young woman thought as she tried to keep her balance whilst being dragged roughly out of the crowd, the offender of such treatment towards the pinkette suddenly came to a halt just a few meters out of the crowd whipping around so fast that the confused kunoichi almost missed the movement.

"WHAT the hell are you doing here?" The silver haired man hissed into the face of the unsuspecting kunoichi who was still trying steady her heart beat and clear her mind of this man who had just appeared out of nowhere.

Staring wide eyed at his face that was mere inches from her own, the pink haired woman gulped instantly realizing that she probably looked like a stunned mess with the way her eyes were surely bugging out, she still hadn't managed to completely compose herself either after thinking about the man who was now holding her so close that she could feel the warmth rolling off of his body as he glared at the pink haired woman, waiting for her to answer his question.

As the young woman started to feel trepidation for the first time since she had decided to join the mission, even though she had already been dismissed. Looking into the face of the unusually pissed older man, the pink haired woman couldn't find a way to answer his question just yet, instead focusing on plastering a composed expression on her face, despite the fact that her heart was still beating a loud rhythm against her ribcage.

'Get a grip Sakura. You can do this.' The young woman thought as she tried to inwardly convince her inner.

After what felt like an hour, but was probably around twenty seconds, the kunoichi was able to straighten her face into a mask of indifference at having the silver haired man so close to her.

When the look on the silver haired jounins face softened slightly, Sakura took advantage of that brief period of time to loosen herself from the tight grip of the man, righting her stance before regarding the man who was now at safe enough distance that the pink haired kunoichi could concentrate on answering the question.

"I came here because I was sent here to help you complete this mission." The young woman finally stated matter-of-factly, hoping she had sounded as professional as she was trying to be.

"But I dismissed you, didn't the others tell you?" The silver haired man inquired already back to his usual aloof demeanour.

"Yes, but I decided to come here on my own accord without the others knowing." The young woman responded. 'Only the second parts a lie.' The young woman thought as the look on the silver haired jounins face briefly flashed anger as he regarded the pink haired kunoichi in front of him and her nonchalant attitude about the mission.

"Sakura, this is dangerous, back at the hide out you got lucky. You should still be resting after getting hit by that poisoned senbon." The silver haired jounin said, trying to change the mind of the stubborn younger woman.

'The poisoned senbon? How did he know that was how…?' Letting that thought trail off, she thought of a question to ask that would be both innocent enough to ask and put her mind to rest on a certain thing that had been running through her mind.

"How did you know it was a senbon they used? Where were you Kakashi? You should have been right behind me." The pink haired kunoichi questioned the silver haired man, falling silent to wait for his answer.

Looking as if he was contemplating telling the truth or trying to find away to dodge the question, the silver haired man looked up over the head of the pink haired woman before looking back down, fixing her with a look that could only be described as calculated and shifting his weight so that he was now leaning back in a lackadaisical stance with his hands in his pockets.

"I knew it was a senbon because I watched the entire thing." The apathetic man said, waiting for the reaction of the fiery tempered kunoichi who would surely blow up at this kind of provocation.

"What do you mean you watched the entire thing Kakashi?" The young woman hissed at the confusing man.

"I was seeing how you would deal with the situation, and since you've obviously been distracted by something, you couldn't even deal with it even though they had only been utilising skills in taijutsu, your supposed specialty." The man replied in a cool voice as if whatever he said now, no matter how it affected the pink haired kunoichi, he would remain indifferent.

Realizing that he was right, the pink haired woman recalled how the four ninja had taken her down with just taijutsu, the fighting style that pink haired kunoichi was prided on being most adept at since becoming apprentice to the incredibly strong fifth Hokage.

"There were four of them and I managed to take down two Kakashi which should have been enough if you weren't so hung up on how I've been acting." The young woman hissed again, trying to hold her anger in as much as she could before continuing.

"Worry about yourself Kakashi, you must be going crazy if you actually let a teammate get taken down, that could have ended much worse, I could be dead." The young woman hissed louder, barely managing to keep her voice from turning into a full blown shout at the silver haired man who looked as indifferent as ever, not even worried about the situation regarding her own life. The pink haired woman couldn't even begin to understand the enigma that was Kakashi Hatake.

"I am worrying about myself Sakura, and you, contrary to your beliefs right now. But I needed to determine whether or not you were up for this" The silver haired man stated while the pink haired woman snorted, an incredulous look plastered across her face.

"I-I don't believe you. You put my life on the line just to prove a point that I wasn't fit to accompany you on this mission anymore. I was just caught off guard back then." The young kunoichi said desperately wishing that the man would show just a flash of emotion.

"It doesn't matter Sakura, I can tell you're still distracted by something. By how easy it was for me to surprise you just now, I wasn't even trying to hide my presence from you yet you didn't show any indication of recognizing my presence until I grabbed you." The silver haired man replied.

"You're right, it doesn't matter because you've already requested my help on this mission and I'll be damned if you're just going to dismiss me for an incident that could have been avoided." The young woman said, still pissed at the man, not believing much of anything he was saying.

"Sakura, just go back, there's things happening that I've just started delve into, you'll just be an unnecessary burden if you're going to continue on the way you have been since arriving."

'The nerve of him, this is his entire fault anyway.' The young woman thought, the sinking feeling in her stomach becoming more pronounced since the last time the silver haired jounin had indirectly insulted her.

Deep down, Sakura knew it wasn't really his fault that she was having hot steamy dreams that threw her concentration off every time she thought about him, but she at this point she just wanted to blame someone other than her own treacherous mind, and Kakashi seemed the most fitting choice.

"Kakashi forget it. I'm staying whether you like it or not. I mean, the ring leader has already invited me to join them, so what's stopping me from walking in there right now and asking to travel with the circus for a while" The young woman responded in a calculated voice, trying to arouse some kind of emotion from the stubborn man.

"Well, right now, I'm standing in your way." The silver haired said, standing upright as if trying to assert his dominance over the much shorter pink haired woman.

Both shinobi just stood there ground, one glaring at the other, the other just looked as if he was ready to hit the hay any minute now with his one droopy exposed eye.

Both shinobi were stubborn but Sakura knew Kakashi couldn't really stop without arousing the suspicions of the people around them or even the people inside the tent. She just had to wait for him to relent and just let her in.

"Fine, but your practically on your own from now on Sakura, don't expect me to come running if you get yourself into trouble." The silver haired man broke first as a triumphant smirk worked its way onto the pink haired kunoichis face.

"Oh, I wasn't counting on it." The pink haired woman responded, now happy with the situation.

As the silver haired man began to walk away, looking wary, as if this argument had aged him, another thought occurred to the still suspicious young woman.

"WAIT!" The pinkette called, hoping that the man wasn't so angry at her for defying him that he would ignore call.

Stopping in his tracks, the silver haired jounin turned around again to see the pink haired kunoichi coming toward him.

"What now Sakura?" The silver haired man asked, obviously irritated at his ex-student.

"Well, you said you were watching the whole thing that other day, right?" The pink haired woman asked, referring to when she was cornered by the four shinobi.

"Yeah." The silver haired man replied, seeming as though he knew where this was going.

"You let those rogues go, why?" The young woman asked again, realizing how hurt she must have sounded after saying that.

Pulling Sakura along so that they were a fair enough distance away from the crowd that they could at least talk in hushed tones and nobody would be able to hear them, unless there was a ninja in the crowd, which was even more of a reason to be as discreet as possible.

"When they got you with the senbon, I summoned Pakkun and Bisuke to follow them. There was definitely something suspicious about them showing up. As soon as I summoned them and told what I knew of the four rogues and how they had just happened to passing by, Pakkun enlightened me to that lie almost instantly. Those four had been staking out the area hours before any of us had returned, meaning that they knew we were there." Pausing to gouge the reaction of the kunoichi, Kakashi continued recounting his most recent analysis.

"When they left, Pakkun and Bisuke pursued them. Unfortunately, it seems those four ninja have something to do with this organization.

'Those four rogue ninja had something to do with this organization' the young woman thought, becoming increasingly anxious.

"Does that mean that they've found us out?" The pink haired woman asked after a moment of deliberation holding in the shriek that threatened to come out.

"I'm not sure, but that's why I didn't really want you here now Sakura, those men probably painted very detailed picture of you if they came here to report you. That's why you have to tread lightly Sakura. We never know when they could turn on us, if they really have found us out."The older jounin ordered.

Now the pink haired woman doubted coming here in the first place.

'What is going on?' The pink haired woman thought as she tried to gather what little courage she had left, willing herself to still go ahead with the plan.

'I should've just listened to the others.' The young woman thought as she watched Kakashi walk towards the tent. Not really feeling like watching the show again, Sakura just wandered around outside the tent until the end of the show.

When the audience members started to file out Sakura took that as her cue to enter the tent.

Weaving her way through the audience members who were making their way out of the tent, Sakura moved out of the crowd to end up standing in the middle of the ring where she looked up to find her silver haired sensei in his revealing state of clothing, or lack thereof.

'Oh, my dear. I am so delighted that you've actually come. Better late than never right?" The small man called out as he began to make his way over to the pink haired woman.

'There's no going back now.'


	15. Chapter 15

The company had been travelling for weeks now and during that time; the atmosphere between the two shinobi could be described in just a single word. Awkward. Even after just having talked outside the tent before the show, the silence that had enveloped the two immediately after that was uncomfortable to say the least; they were both anxious and still slightly pissed at the other for either getting in the way or trying to get in their way.

Upon arriving, Sakura had officially claimed a place among the ranks of the other performers by demonstrating her dexterity in every act that included acrobatics and flexibility, just two of the skills she had acquired at a young age growing up as a kunoichi, even though she knew not to let on to that fact. The young pink haired woman joined the group of women that were mostly in charge of flipping around the other performers that were doing their acts and getting lifted by any performer who required that kind of service during their act.

As the kunoichi already knew, every other performer was beyond gorgeous, men and women alike, so it didn't come as a surprise that many of them were pompous egotistical brats that did not take well to fresh meat; especially someone they didn't deem fit enough to be there. It was the women who had shown the most animosity towards the pink haired women in the beginning, being that the men had originally tried to pursue the kunoichi as if she was the new toy, giving up after the many rejections dealt by said woman. Not to say that she wasn't a little bit flattered at the attentions of the men, the kunoichi just knew they were doing it to get into her pants and throw her away like they had obviously done to most of the other women.

This all frustrated the kunoichi to no end, but nothing irritated the woman more than the fact that, even though he was also a new addition to the company, her partner was welcomed so whole heartedly into the group by all of the perfomers, ESPECIALLY the woman who swooned each time he walked by. That partnered with the fact that he was completely indifferent to the adoration of each of the gorgeous woman just served to further piss of the irate pink haired kunoichi.

Sure he was gorgeous, the pink haired woman clearly knew that, but that didn't mean they had to treat her like complete trash just because of her own looks. If the kunoichi was self conscious about her physical appearance before, now she was a complete mess trying to fit in with these creatures. In her own mind, the kunoichi thought she was at least average looking, but here, she thought she might as well have been trash.

The young woman, who was usually quite the sweet heart when her buttons weren't being pushed, was now completely avoided by all due to her infamous temper which was either teetering on the edge or thrown clear over that edge with the slightest provocation, with the exception of the ringmaster who she tolerated the most, and Kakashi when she was forced to convene with him to share information.

Sakura was also forced to share tents with the other women that constantly backstabbed her and schemed ways to get out of her tent, so eventually Sakura was forced to share a tent with the ringmaster, with just a curtain separating them. She really didn't want to tent up with the conniving women and she did not even want to think about possibly sharing a tent with one of the other incredibly infurating men. She had considered maybe sharing a tent with the silver haired ninja, but because she hadn't been able to shake the corruptive dreams, it would just kill whatever restraint the woman had if she had to wake up next to the man in her deepest fantasies every morning. So her only choice in the end was the ringmaster, and though the smaller man was very respectful of the pinkettes personal space, the kunoichi couldn't shake the feeling that he was observing her as closely as she was him.

* * *

Beside the short meetings they had, the two shinobi weren't often found in the same place at the same time for any time over what was considered normal, even when they had to eat. To the silver haired man it was probably just an attempt to distance themselves from each other and not give any hint that they knew each other prior to that first show they had "met.

To the young kunoichi though, she was unconsciously and even consciously at times avoiding the man like a plague. She knew he could tell there was something different about her every time they spoke and though he was now the exact same ex-sensei she knew before this mission, her strange mix of feeling had yet to settle and she was sure that the perceptive mind of the silver haired jounin would be clicking soon if there was ever a time that they had talked without the excuse of their mission objectives.

The pink haired woman was pretty confident in the plans that the silver haired man had thought up to expose the real identity of the group, even though his decisions were iffy when the younger kunoichi and her blonde teammate had arrived. Sakura had reported this back to the other ninja waiting back at the hide out, she was told by the older jounin that apparently it was something Kakashi does and that she should forget about following him now and just work on getting the main mission finished which she gladly did, not really wanting to keep an eye on the man after she had tried to force her eyes to stop following his movement whenever he walked by with his usual lazy man slouch which held the eyes of all the other women, Sakura did not want to be like them.

So the conclusion at this stage of the mission for the young kunoichi is that it was not a fun time and though the performers could draw people in with just their looks, if people were to actually meet and get to know them, their circus would not be as popular as it currently was and their organization would surely fail if their main scheme for money was cut off. The kunoichi took comfort in that one small thing, she felt inferior to every single one of the performers, including her ex-sensei and all she really wanted at this point was to crack the perfect cover that the leaders of the group had come up with, determine whether or not they're harmless or not, do whatever needs to be done if their trouble and finish the mission so she can go home and forget about the mission as she now thought it was worst mission she had ever been on.


	16. Chapter 16

"Cherry blossom, my dear, we will be having a celebration tonight, have you heard?" The ringleader called over the curtain to the young kunoichi as she entered their shared tent.

"Ah, Yeah I have Nezu-san , the ladies have been talking non-stop about it." The kunoichi called back to the man using his name with a false sense of enthusiasm as she rummaged through her clothes for anything suitable enough for the "party" that was going to happen that night, not that she was actually going to attened the festivities any longer than was necessary.

"Hey. What's this for anyway? The kunoichi inquired since she hadn't caught the reason when she was trying to listening on the other women, being that they would start to talk in hushed tones about it every time the pink haired woman walked by.

"Well my dear, you and the silver haired fellow Kakashi have been here for a couple of months now and in that time we have been thriving with the new act and gorgeous new faces, so I've decided to throw a party in your favor." The small man stated simply in reply to the pink haired kunoichis question.

'Ah, so that's why they didn't want me to know.' The young woman thought as she recalled the brief flashes of jealousy in the eyes of the women she happened to pass; now she knew for sure what that was all about.

"Do you usually hold parties for your performers Nezu-san?" The pink haired women questioned with a lilt to her voice that suggested the ring leader was showing favoritism towards his newest recruits. With a loud laugh that didn't make the small man seem any more innocent when faced with that accusation the man responded.

"Is it so wrong little cherry blossom? I don't think the others will mind much since this is a chance for them

"I guess not." The pink haired woman shrugged it off, knowing full well that she probably wouldn't be out partying the night away with all the others.

"Alright my dear, make sure to show your face out there, even if it's just for a few minutes. I'd hate to have done all of this and one of the guests of honor refuses to show." The small man said, poking his head around the curtain with a cheesy grin on his face.

"Don't worry Nezu-san, I'll be sure to force myself out there with all of those predators." The pink haired woman replied, turning to face the man with a small smirk, not caring that she had just insulted his precious performers; it wasn't as if the man didn't know her opinion of them anyway.

"Now now cherry, they're not all so vicious once you get to know them." The man said in a disapproving voice that contrasted to the amused smirk plastered on his face.

"Well, no offense but I really have no intention of trying to get to know their "better" characters." The pink haired woman returned with her own small smirk.

"Okay you stubborn young lady, just be sure to get your butt out here and endure their presence for a bit, for me." The small man called before withdrawing from the curtain and exiting the tent shutting out any kind of argument that might have been bubbling in the pinkettes throat.

Going back to finding any clothes without having to converse with her tent mate, the young kunoichi found a short, tight red dress that she had completely forgotten about from her last mission and a shawl that she assumed went with it, nothing compared to what she knew the other women were wearing, with all the new clothes they had brought when they had arrived at the village they were in now.

With no other choice, unless she wanted to wear her baggy winter civilian clothes or her standard ninja attire that she had stored in her bag just in case, the young woman slipped into the dress before strapping on a pair of sandals that she had bothered to buy in town, she wrapped the shawl around her shoulders before moving hesitantly towards the tent exit, feeling self conscious once again, finally shuffling out of the tent and making her way through all of the other tents and to the center where she could already hear the music and excited rambling of the already drunk partiers.

* * *

Coming around to the place where everybody was, the young woman took a few moments to take in the environment before stepping out from behind the tent she was standing in the shadows of.

There was now a fairly large space cleared for dancing in the middle of the tents, lying around the make shift dance floor were various table and boxes that held food and beverages. Apparently the beverages were either spiked or straight alcohol, judging by the way the usually quiet company of circus performers were hollering and singing along to the music and others were grinding up against each other on the dance floor.

A few meters away from where the young pink haired woman was standing was a stage where the band that travelled with the circus was singing and playing songs, raising the tension in the air.

Stepping out of the dark cover of the tent the kunoichi made her way towards the refreshments to get a drink. 'I reckon I'll need this to get through tonight' the young woman thought as she let out an appreciative "Aaah" after taking a swig of the bitter drink she had just poured herself.

"You really shouldn't be drinking that" The silver haired man who had appeared out of nowhere yet again whispered into the pink haired kunoichis ear. Though the young kunoichi knew the silver haired man was approaching her, she shuddered at the feeling of his breath running over her neck. Turning to the man, the pinkette tried her best to ignore his naked face so that she could retort to his hypocritical statement.

"HAH! You to talk, I could smell the alcohol on your breath long before you had even decided to talk to me." The young woman could feel her mind become more open as she was talking to the obviously inebriated silver haired man. 'Wow, this thing is strong' the kunoichi thought, taking a sniff of the cup she had just emptied. 'Damn. I've got to get away from him.' The kunoichi concluded before looking up at the face of her ex-sensei that she had been recently having wet dreams about.

The young kunoichi had to force her eyes away from the man and his lazy eyed mask less smile that just screamed sexy; she assumed it was because of how drunk he was. 'God, why does he have to be so damn hot?' The pink haired woman thought as she started to walk away from the unusually smiley silver haired ninja.

"Where are you going?" The silver haired man questioned in a surprisingly clear voice, grabbing a tight hold of her wrist. Snapping her head around, the kunoichi regarded the drunk man trying to guess what he was upto.

"Ah, I'm going to head back to my tent." The pink haired woman replied as if it was the simplest conclusion in the world, not really in the mood to deal with the inebriated man.

"I see." The silver haired man said slightly loosening his grip on the kunoichis wrists as he looked to be contemplating something.

Suddenly the pink haired woman found herself being dragged out to the dance floor by the silver haired man, weaving and pushing themselves through the people who had already settled to dance.

"KAKASHI! What are you doing?" The young kunoichi hissed as the silver haired shinobi continued to pull her to where he wanted them to go.

"Dance with me." The man stated pivoting around to face the confused young woman, much too graceful for how drunk he was.

"Ah, why?" The pink haired woman questioned whilst looking around to see if anybody had noticed them. To her horror, there were a few of the other women glaring in their direction causing the kunoichi to duck under their scrutiny.

"Why not? This is practically our party; I'm trying to get you to enjoy yourself." The man said again as if it was such a simple answer.

"What if people start jumping to conclusions?" The kunoichi asked again, trying to get the man, in his drunken stupor to be professional.

"Sakura, you've been to tense lately, loosen up and forget whatever's making you so frigid." The silver haired man whispered into the ear of the young woman making her shudder yet again at the sensation.

'Thats easier said than done' the young woman thought looking up into the now serious face of the silver haired shinobi who was indeed the reason she was so tense all the time. In this position the faces of the two shinobi were now so close that Sakura could almost taste the alcohol on the drunk mans breath brushing over her face.

The pink haired woman just stared wide eyed at the older man who seemed to be scrutinizing every inch of her face, just waiting for his next move.


	17. Chapter 17

"Kakashi, What are you doing?" The young woman questioned in a low voice trying to duck out of the tight grip the silver haired man had around her waist, becoming increasingly embarrassed and flushed at their close proximity.

For what felt like minutes after the kunoichi had spoken the Silver haired man finally loosened his grip around the waist of the pink haired woman allowing her to step back a little bit and distance herself from the intoxicated shinobi, trying to steady her rapidly beating heart after being engulfed in the intoxicating manly scent and being pressed flush against his warm lean body.

Obviously the effects the dreams had on her still had yet to cease as they still hit her in full force whenever she was in close quarters with the man, but being that they both had alcohol running through their veins the kunoichis reactions were much stronger and much less restrained.

"I wa-you look different Sakura." The silver haired finally answered, now holding the pink haired kunoichi at arms length, his usual slouched stance more pronounced as he leaned drunkenly on his arm gripping the younger womans waist, still smiling cheesily.

'What does he mean? Do I look bad?'the pink haired woman thought as she tried to discreetly look down and assess any differences the man might have noticed. Realizing her racy choice of attire the kunoichi found the courage to look up into the probing eyes of the silver haired jounin holding her close.

What she had hoped to see within the depths of his eyes was acceptance or even recognition of the woman she had become, and what she found there was surprising a shock, it was in a way, a mixture of both.

What she saw now was not the mans eyes, but his head moving slowly over her body from head to toe, stopping at the places that stuck out more in his buzz hazed mind. Returning his eyes back to the kunoichis face to roam around it with his eyes, no resistance from the pinkette at this point who was just standing there, letting the older man appraise her.

'He's checking me out. No, what am I thinking? Kakashi is not checking me out' the woman thought, inwardly trying to convince her inner Sakura that this man was not regarding her in "that" kind of way.

When the silver haired man finally settled his eyes, directly into eyes of the flushed pink haired woman there was a slight curve to his soft lips, almost a smirk. His eyes were hooded as if he wasn't really looking at the woman but through her.

"Very Different." The silver haired man drawled, reiterating the point he was trying to make earlier, doing a brief once over of the pinkettes body before coming back up to rest on her face, a lazy grin now plastered on his face.

Well that confirmed it, the young woman stopped trying to convince herself that the appraisal of the man was nothing but innocent. Realising now that, yes, Kakashi Hatake had indeed been checking her out, however incredulous the pink haired woman honestly felt about that fact.

The pink haired woman stood there with her mouth slightly parted, short breaths coming out in pants as she regarded the heavy lidded state of the silver haired man.

Chuckling at the expression on the pinkettes face, the silver haired jounin tugged at the material around the waist of the unsuspecting younger woman pulling her flush against himself yet again, wrapping his arms around her waist, effectively caging her in his impromptu embrace.

When the music changed Sakura began to digest what was happening.

Her ex-sensei, the man that had been co-starring with her in her most dirty and steamy dreams was looking at her with lust filled eyes, not hiding the fact that he appreciated what he saw. She could hear and feel her heart beating a relentless rhythm against her ribcage as she let that ridiculous idea settle in her mind, running those few words over and over in her head, recalling his blatant ogling of her body and face.

Just when the music changed into something more sensual the two shinobi began to move against each other in suggestive ways letting their bodies flow free and release some of the pent up frustration and tension that they unknowingly felt for each other at that moment.

Grinding up against eachother, both of them moving in sync as the silver haired man took the hips of the nymph-like young woman dominating her movements so that every time their bodies made contact it was in places that made both of them burn with need and desire.

With her back pressed snuggly into the front of the silver haired shinobis body, the pink haired woman reached up behind herself to let her hand rest on the back of his neck as they continued to move against eachother.

It was like the rest of the world was blocked out, like there was nothing but her and the silver haired man.

Even when the music stopped, they didn't pull away, staying pressed up against eachother, yearning for the warmth of the others body if they broke contact for just a moment.

Sakura had to admit, the sexual tension between her and the older man at this point was enough to drive her insane. All she wanted to do now is throw him into a random tent, rip off his clothes and have her way with him, all of her earlier trepidation at being in the presence of the man completely forgotten. She wasn't even drunk, her slight buzz from the drink she had earlier gone and replaced with the overwhelming urge to finally be able to taste what her mind had been dishing out in spades, to compare her dreams to reality.

The silver haired man continued to hold the pink haired woman around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder as they gently swayed side to side just listening to the slow music. Forgetting everyone else around them, revelling in the sensation of being so close to eachother.

The pink haired woman still couldn't stop her mind from wandering. What had just happened? What was happening? What might just happen if the night continues on like this and what will it mean?

"Sakura." The silver haired man whispered into his female companions ear, breaking her out of her reverie. Humming in response the pink haired woman turned slightly in the direction of his face in her shoulder, waiting for what he was going to say.

"Do you want to go somewhere more private?" The silver haired man suggested, leaning in to nuzzle the pinkettes neck, waiting for her to answer.

"Yeah, I think we should." The pink haired kunoichi replied after a few moments deliberation, smiling widely as the man quickly started pulling by the waist in what she knew to be the direction of his tent.

Not caring for the consequences now, the two shinobi shuffled off towards the tent.


	18. Chapter 18

It felt so wrong yet so entirely right.

As soon as the two shinobi fumbled through the opening of the tent they started directly for the bed, already ripping off unnecessary pieces of clothing, trying to maintain the heated kiss that erupted from pure, unadulterated desire to be as close as possible, to feel every inch of the others body.

In such haste, the two lovers had barely made it to the bed, collapsing down onto the bed as the young kunoichis legs hit the edge of the bed causing her to fall back with Kakashi lying on top of her, not once breaking their fiery battle of tongues, tasting every inch of eachothers mouths.

The pinkette was burning with desire for the man, finally letting go of all her inhibitions as the man settled on his elbows above her making her feel so, so good. Everything and everywhere the man touched left a burning mark over her sensitive making her whimper and moan in pleasure at the scorching sensation being left behind, melting under the hot kisses he planted on her neck.

Both of their hands were roaming, groping and trying to feel every bit of skin on their lovers body, one knowing exactly what he was doing and where to touch to make his female companion writhe beneath his form, making her hum or cry out in pleasure. The other letting her hands roam free for the lack of anything better to do while her lust hazed mind tried to keep up with all the sensations elicited by the ministrations of her male companion, her silver haired ex-sensei.

The pink haired kunoichi felt elated under the silver haired man, completely taken in by how the man only seemed to be focussing on her and her pleasure for now, touching her in just the right place, licking her hardened nipples whilst fondling the other breast gingerly, letting his other hand wander down her toned stomach and to the junction of her thighs causing friction over his lovers heat using his thumb to put pressure on her sensitive bud. He was expertly and efficiently stimulating every sensitive nerve ending in her in her body, coiling her body up for a sexual explosion that she was burning for.

The kunoichi was a mess underneath the hot body of her ex-sensei, and she was quite sure that she must have looked the exact opposite of sexy, arching her back into the copy ninjas mouth and hand fondling her twin mounds and thrusting her hips into the mans hand that was in between her legs. She could feel her climax rapidly approaching when her inner walls began to flutter in anticipation, any second now.

Thrusting his finger deep within her, stretching her as he began to add a second and then a third finger, pumping them in and out, the woman beneath him mewling and writhing, her inner walls clenching around his digits.

From that, her climax hit like a ton of bricks as her body spasmed and the pinkette let out a muffled cry as her lover swallowed it with a deep passionate kiss.

Pulling away from her mouth whilst aligning his member at her entrance, the silver haired man moved a stray piece of sweat clotted hair out of his female companions face murmuring something so low that the pink haired woman in a state of euphoric satisfaction barely heard him over her heavy breathing and loud drumming in her ears.

"Beautiful." The woman thought she heard him say, completely disregarding it for now as she started prompting the man to enter her.

Without another word, the silver haired jounin thrusted into the pinkettes inner warmth, grunting in pleasure at the feeling of her walls clenching tightly around his member.

The pink haired woman gasped in surprise at being filled so suddenly, humming in appreciation as his member settled inside of her.

Not needing anymore time to adjust, the pinkette thrust her hips forward, taking in the engorged member of her male companion even further. A surprised grunt escaped the silver haired jounins mouth, followed by a long moan muffled in to the crook of his lovers neck as he began to pump in and out of her at a steady pace, working them both up at an almost agonizingly slow pace. The young woman didn't really mind as each thrust of his hips caused the woman to moan each time he rubbed up against her sensitive bud, hitting her in the just the right spot everytime.

She could feel the tightening below her waist begin to recoil as her lovers thrust started to become slightly erratic, pushing her further into her second climax knowing that the man above her was losing control of his ever present composure the closer he got to his release.

Abruptly, but not unexpected, her second climax of the night overwhelmed her body and mind while he arched her back and dropped her mouth open in a silent cry, shuddering and panting the woman could barely register the feeling of her male companions last few thrust before finally releasing his seed deep within the young woman.

* * *

The silver haired jounin pulled out of the pink haired kunoichi, rolling onto his side and pulling her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her spent yet thoroughly sated as the young woman pressed her face into his chest, yawning as their previous activities took its effect on her.

Pulling the blankets over their cooling bodies, the silver haired jounin let himself fall asleep with his recent fixation wrapped snuggly in his arms.

* * *

'Wow, that one was the most realistic yet' the elated pink kunoichi thought as her mind began to slowly awaken, unusually relaxed as she layed there with her eyes closed, recalling her most recent dream.

Letting her eyes slide open and adjust to the room, looking out directly in front of herself with half closed eyes.

Snapping her eyes open as she took in her surroundings. 'This is not...' the young woman began, trailing off in her mind.

The kunoichi tried to roll onto her back but was surprised to find a large shape pressed flush against her back presumably a human body, just realizing the arm draped lazily over her waist and her own state of undress.

'We didn't' the kunoichi inwardly gasped as she tried to turn her head to face the silver haired man she knew was behind her, trying hard not to stir the heavily sleeping man. Taking in his peaceful features as he slept, the kunoichi began to recall everything that had happened the night before.

'It wasn't a dream.' The kunoichi realized, mouth dropping in a silent gasp over what had just happened.

The silver haired man began to stir as if he felt the woman in his arms move, groaning and then rolling over so that his back was now facing the pink haired woman. Seeing a way out, the kunoichi leapt up out of the bed, hastily gathering her clothes that were scattered around the floor mixed in with the clothes of the silver haired man who was completely oblivious to the shuffling around of the pinkette as she dressed herself in a rush trying to make a silent exit.

'Oh god, what have I done? I wasn't even drunk.' The kunoichi thought knowing that the silver haired man was at least drunk but she didn't even have alcohol to blame for actually going along with it.

The embarrassed kunoichi thought over what had happened last night, wondering what the consequences might be from doing something so unprofessional during their mission.

'Oh man. He was so drunk, he probably wont remember a thing when he wakes.' The kunoichi continued to think over what had transpired and what kind of reaction the silver haired man might have when he realised what they had done.

Finally dressed, the kunoichi snuck towards the exit flap of the tent, tip toe-ing as she still tried not to wake the man.

Making her way out of the tent, the pink haired woman released the breath she had been holding, turning straight towards the direction of her own tent.

"Ouch!" The kunoichi exclaimed, immediately covering her mouth after the loud call whilst putting the other to her neck where she had just felt a sharp stab of pain, letting her hand drop down, the kunoichi noticed blood on her fingers from where she had just touched.

'A senbon' the young woman thought as she reached back up to grab at the thing protruding from her neck.

'A senbon' the young woman realised as she brought the small pointy stick into her suddenly hazy line of vision.

'Damn it.' Was the last thought of the pink haired kunoichi as she flopped to the ground and several dark figures leapt out of the air, landing right at the limp kunoichis side.


	19. Chapter 19

Gasping, the disoriented kunoichi snapped her eyes open to discover that she was shrouded in complete darkness, strapped to a chair.

'Where am I?' Was the first thought of the pink haired woman as she tried to recall any of the events that lead up to being in the situation she was now in.

With little to see in the dark room the kunioichi tried to let her chakra seep out and see if she could pick up any kind of chakra signatures, not sensing anything, she came to a conclusion that the room was probably cloaked from the inside and out, meaning that anybody outside of the room, or even building she was in probably couldn't sense any ninja inside.

'How long have I been in here?' The kunoichi thought as she tested the strength of the binds around her wrist, quickly realizing that they were enforced with chakra.

Hissing a string of hushed curses through her teeth the fiery kunoichi kept trying to force the binds open, letting her own chakra seep into her muscles to use brute strength to slacken the binds, becoming more and more irate as she realised all of her efforts were futile.

Giving up for a now, the kunoichi slumped over in her chair and tried to think of who could have had any motive to hold her captive.

'Thats what I get for letting my guard down around that stupid, manipulative man' the young woman thought idly as she tried to force the memories of her and her silver ex-sensei out of her mind, knowing that if she went there now, who knows what she'd miss, it was a very dangerous thought process.

'Finally' the kunoichi thought as she heard the sounds of feet tramping down a hallway she desperately hoped led to the room she was in. If there was no way to get out now, she might as well stay put until her partner noticed she wasn't around, fat chance that maybe, it seemed to the young woman that her silver haired partner only payed her any of his much coveted attention when he was completely inebriated and horny.

Pushing those thughts from her mind, the pinkette tuned into the sounds coming from what she assumed was just outside the the door, the kunoichi heard several faint clicks and what sounded like metal being shifted away from the door. 'HAH! Like that'll keep me in' the young woman thought, letting her frustration at her unknown captors show, she assumed it was more then one by the multiple voices she could hear mumbling just outside of her sight.

After what she thought to be hours but was probably only a few minutes, the door opened letting a streak of light hit the wall behind her for a moment before someone threw the door wide open so that it slammed against the wall. Temporarily blinded from the sudden light that was now streaming through the room, the kunoichi started to blink ,trying to adjust her burning eyes to the blinding light so she could see the people who had finally come to visit her.

"It's been a little while hasn't it Pinky." A mans voice whom the young kunoichi had no problem remembering.

"So it's you." The kunoichi hissed, remebering the last encounter she had with this man and his band of misfits. Finally able to get a proper look at the figures that were surrounding her, recognising all of their faces and the exact same formation they had taken that resembled their formation the last time. Trying to keep up an apathetic facade, the kunoichi tried not to let her slight reluctance to go four on one with these guys again show. She underestimated them last time and had her butt handed to her, vowing to herself that her revenge would come today, and not just to show Kakashi that she could take care of herself just fine. 'No Sakura, don't even think about HIM now.' the young woman scolded her inner, turning her gaze towards the man in front of her, forcing the scowl off her face as she regarded his arrogant smirking face, wishing she could wipe the look clean off.

"So much for passing through, why were you really there?" The kunoichi questioned the leader, recalling the story she now knew was fake. 'Just passing through. Pfft! I knew there was something fishy about them.' The kunoichi thought, waiting for the man to respond.

"Such little faith. You really think we'd lie to you girl." The man said, chuckling softly before continuing, stepping so close to the young woman strapped to the chair that she could feel his breath coming out just inches away from her own face.

"Because we would." The man finished, letting out a burst of laughter that elicited the chuckles of his underlings.

Grabbing the kunoichi by the chin, jolting her entire head as he forced her eyes to meet his in a heated glaring contest.

"We want to know why you, apprentice to the Hokage, and the Copy nin are hanging around with a crowd like this."

Not hesitating to meet the eyes of the man who seemed to have no regard for her personal space, the young kunoichi let a burning glare settele in her eyes, keeping eye contact with the man as she began to talk.

"How did you..."

"How did we know? HAH! You're kidding right. You, Pinky, have been in the bingo books ever since you took down that puppet freak from Akatsuki, and your silver haired partner, heck, he's been there for longer than I can remember." The man said, cutting the pinkettes question off.

"I mean, how many pink haired kunoichi do you get running around, close to none, and that silver haired mask wearing prick, how obvious could you get. We saw him following you back in the forest last time. Put two and two together." The man said, making gestures with his hands. The kunoichi just sat staring at him with a blank look on her face, not at all in the mood to decipher his stupid movements.

"Its none of your business why we're with them, and you're wasting your time if you think I'll actually tell you anything." The pink haired woman spoke, trying not to be intimidated by the figures hovering over her.

"Ah, I see. Well, okay, we can wait. I'm positive that you'll be more talkative after the show." The man said, grinning down at the confused kunoichi before looking at one of his comrades who moved back to the wall. Realizing for the first time that there was a button there, the kunoichi followed the movements of the other man.

'Show? What show?' The utterly confused kunoichi thought as she turned to the wall just to the side of her as it started to open up, revealing a very familiar silver haired man standing there in close to no clothes, maskless, behind a glass. Trying to stay focussed and aware of what was happening right at that moment, the kunoichi forced her eyes away from the prime physique of her silver haired ex-sensei, still trying to figure out exactly what was happening.

"Look!" The leader called to the pinkette, walking up so that he could twist her chair in the direction of the glass and force her eyes to stay on the scene there.

'What is he doing?' The kunoichi thought, her curiosity getting the best of her as she let her eyes stay forward, wondering what was going to happen next.

A strange woman came into view right next to Kakashi, with ropes in hand, the silver haired man knelt down so that was on his knees whilst the woman fastened the ropes around his limbs. 'What the...?' The kunoichi thought, wondering why the silver haired jounin looked so submissive, why he was letting her tie him up. The pinkette held in the growl that had worked its way up to her throat, she instantly hated the strange woman who had her hands all over the silver haired man. 'Stop it Sakura, he isn't yours, don't act so possesive.' The pink haired woman scolded her inner, trying to calm the burning jealousy that was raring its head.

'Well he sure isn't hers' inner Sakura fired back. The pink haired woman stopped trying to deny her inners feelings because she felt the exact same way. Focussing her attention fully on the scene again.

Once Kakashi seemed to be tightly bound, the woman stood back anticipating what might happen next.

'Whats happening?' The kunoichi thought as she watched her silver haired partner kneeling on the ground in a pitiful fashion. 'Get up Kakashi' she thought, letting her worries for the man slip into her thoughts.

In a split second the scene went from stillness to complete chaos.

As four vicious looking dogs appeared out of nowhere, seeking out the bound man and sinking their teeth into his scarred skin, exposing flesh and forcing blood to spill out of the wounds so rapidly that she was positive he wouldn't survive.

With renewed vigor, the kunoichi began to strain against her binds, wanting, no, needing to help the silver haired man being ripped apart right in front of her eyes. Unshed tears stinging the corners of her eyes, the kunoichi was ready to scream, pumping chakra into her wrist, writhing and twisting in her seat, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene ahead of her.

"Now are you ready to talk!" The leader called over the strangled cries of the beyond angry kunoichi who was still trying to break free of the binds.

Halting in her movements, snapping her head in the direction of the man who spoke, fixing him with a glare that she wished could kill, the man stepped back, slightly intimidated by the ferocity of the kunoichis glare.

"I will kill you. I will kill you all!" The kunoichi forced out through her teeth, with one tear falling from her eye, immediately returning to her previous task.

Filled with pure, unadulterated rage, the kunoichi could finally feel the chakra enforced binds begin to loosen, still watching as the now completely exposed Kakashi lay there, bleeding out, dying. Just one more strong pull and the binds unraveled quickly, dropping to the ground.

Looking up from the ground, the kunoichi saw the four men standing in front of the glass, waiting for her to lunge at them.

Disregarding them for now, the kunoichi propelled herself towards the glass so fast that the four shinobi standing there just barely made it out of the way before she crashed through the glass with a chakra laced fist, smashing it all to pieces.

Standing on the other side, it took just a moment to realise what that was all about.

Looking around the stadium tent, there was so much people in the stands, all panicking, running around screaming. It was completely hectic.

'This was the show, it was all part of the show.' The pinkette thought, stupefied and frozen on the spot with her mind blocking out all the calamity that was happening around her. Wide eyes pinned to the spot where the silver haired man had been lying, limp and pale in a deep puddle of his own blood. That spot was now completely clean and empty as if the scene that had been there moments ago was nothing but an illusion.

"SAKURA!"

Slowly turning her head towards the man sprinting in her direction, she let her eyes settle on the fully clothed figure of the perfectly fit and healthy silver haired jounin, just staring at him with wide eyes as he neared her.

Reaching her extremely fast, as fast as he could run without alerting everyone to their presence, the man grabbed the frozen young woman by the shoulders and shook her trying to bring her out of her dazed state.

"Sakura! We have to go. Now!" The silver haired man yelled, spinning the pink haired woman around, pulling her in the direction of the exit.

Coming to a stop as several figures suddenly blocked their escape, turning around and discovering that they were surrounded on all sides and that every one of the audience members had escaped the tent.

Looking at the pink haired woman, hoping she had snapped out of the stupor she was in and that she was ready to fight, because that was inevitable at this point.

Turning her head in the direction of the silver haired man, making eye contact with him before slowly turning her head back to the men surrounding them, the kunoichi let Kakashi take a defensive stance in front of her.

'What did I just do?'


	20. Chapter 20

"Sakura! Come on, get it together!" The silver haired man called as he deflected a barrage of kunai being aimed at them from one direction, flashing to the other side of the frozen kunoichi to deflect kunai coming from that direction.

"Sakura! Snap out of it!" The silver haired jounin called again, trying to snap the pink haired kunoichi out of her daze.

Just like that, the pink haired kunoichi let her shinobi instincts take over, crouching down into a defensive stance, ready to defend herself and the man at her side by any means necessary.

'I can do this' the young woman thought as she instinctively dodged the kunai of the first man to try his luck at hand to hand with the pinkette, lunging at her with a kunai in hand, swiping directly for her face.

So busy trying to deflect and dodge the advnces of the man in front of her, the young kunoichi was only just able to sense the man lunging at her from behind, quickly aiming a chakra laced foot at the first man, throwing him back a at least ten meters before swivelling around in a flash to meet the blade of the second man, forcing chakra into her fist to give herself the advantage, holding her ground as the much bigger man pressed up against the kunoichi making her feet slide across the dirt below, forcing her backwards.

Turning her head slightly to the side to determine whether or not her back would hit something, the kunoichi whipped her head back to the smirking face of her current opponent, all to suddenly, the sound of someone unsheathing a sword close behind her, the kunoichi braced herself for the sting of the blade that she was in no position to dodge or deflect.

CLANK!

Not feeling the sting of the blade, the kunoichi could sense that her silver haired ex-sensei had saved her butt yet again.

Pushing with more strength then before, the kunoichi managed to push her opponent a few meters away, stepping back to meet the back of her one comrade in this fight. Going back to back, she knew it was the best chance they had right now, going up against so many opponents.

Looking at all the men surrounding them, the pink haired kunoichi realized that the amount of them had increased by at least a third, making a quick assessment of the number.

'34, damn, that's pushing it, even for Kakashi.' The kunoichi thought. Even though she knew they were pretty damn strong, especially the silver haired jounin, going up against this many men of various shapes and sizes, unknown abilities and strength, she knew they definitely had their work cut out for them here.

"RASENSHURIKEN!" The sound of another all to familiar boisterous voice blasted through the tent, stopping a few of the other men in their tracks as they tried to get a look at the newcomer of the fight.

Still trying to fight off the less easily distracted ninja, the pink haired kunoichi was greatful for the never failing promptness of her wonderfully powerful yet still knuckleheaded yellow haired teammate.

Rushing into the middle of the circle, Naruto, followed by the other three older shinobi had already begun to swing this massive fight in their favor. Taking out people left right and center as they slowly yet steadily made their way over to their comrades who were deep in the midst of battle.

"NARUTO!" The pink haired woman called, almost cried as their back-up team finally made it to the middle of the circle, all six shinobi forming the shape of a hexagon, all going back to back with each other, crouching down into defensive positions. While this was happening, a few of the more clever opponents held back their advances, taking in the appearance of the new formation of six shinobi, hesitating as they recognized the familiar faces of the Hero of the Hidden Leaf Village and three other seasoned jounin who had most definitely earned themselves special entries in the criminal bingo books.

Taking a moment to look to her right, where the silver haired jounin had positioned himself, the kunoichi couldn't stop her mind from wondering if he was okay, seeing him panting and crouched down, obviously coming to the point where he was pushing himself, the pink haired woman just continued taking furtive glances in his direction, letting her irrational concerns take over her mind for the short amount of time that it took all of the ninja to get their bearings.

'Eh, Why am I worried about him? He's probably still in a better condition to take care of himself than I am.' The kunoichi thought, turning her full attention on the man for a few seconds.

So fast that if she hadn't been watching him so closely, she definitely would have missed it, the silver haired jounins flash reaction to her coonstant srutiny made her stomach jolt in surprise and an emotion she chose not to think of surfaced. The silver haired man turned his eyes to the pink haired woman and gave a lightning fast yet casual wink, probably reassuring her that he was indeed fine, but the the pinkette took that wink in a completely different way, instantly flushing from head to toe.

Snapping her head back to the opponents ahead of her, taking cue from the rest of her companions, she lunged at the closest man with all of her limbs glowing with her well placed chakra, barreling through the unprepared men whose advances quickly turned into defensive positions as the six Leaf shinobi rushed them, taking many down as they forced the circle to open wider, knocking back more and more opponents.

The battle was immense and heated as groups of men streamed into the tent to take the places of their fallen comrades. Nothing but the sound of clanking weapons, crunching bones, shifting soil and calls of various jutsu could be heard from both sides.

Never did any of the six Leaf shinobi get a reprieve from defending or attacking and taking down opponents as team after team of the opposition continued to line up one after the other to take down any one of them, trying to weaken the perfect defense system that the six powerful ninja had integrated into their fighting styles, working in perfect synchronization from years of training and battling together with their own respective teammates.

One team that consisted of the two older male shinobi and the older brown haired kunoichi had broke off from the six man circle to form their own triangular formation away from the other team, all with their own special techniques to take down or assist their teammates in immobilizing the opposition. Clouds of poison, barrages of senbon flying from all directions and ravens to cloak their small circle, the three jounin seemed perfectly at ease working with their teammates in the heat of battle.

The other team that consisted of the fiery pink haired kunoichi, the noisy, unpredictable blonde haired ninja and their silver ex-sensei weren't quite as in sync as their other comrades, yet still managing to assist each other at just the right times, they also seemed at ease. The pink haired kunoichi stormed through her opponents, letting her frustration and irritation at the entire situation fuel her temper, not holding any punches as she let her fists and feet fly, crunching the bones of the surrounding men and then sending them flying back towards the edge of the tent.

Even though the number enemies had multiplied to a mass that none of the shinobi could even try to calculate, especially whilst they were so focussed on taking down their current opponents, the six shinobi seemed to have diminished that number fast and efficiently with near ease as the final blow was landed on the last enemy ninja who joined the rest of his fallen companions that were strewn unceremoniously across the unsuspected battle ground.

Standing their ground, holding up their defensive stances, the six shinobi, still well on their feet remained on alert, anticipating ay unexpected attack that could come, expecting another stream of enemies to come charging through the tent entry.

'Was that really it? Is it over?' The pink haired kunoichi thought, shooting glances at each one of her fellow leaf shinobi, not believing at all that the chaos was over.

"Ah. You Konoha shinobi have caused a lot of trouble for my henchmen and myself." The man whom the pink haired woman had been roomates with for most of her time travelling with them stepped into the tent, six others following him through, people she recognized as performers in the troop.

"What a mess." The man of short stature said, sighing and rubbing his neck as if realising he had a lot of work to do.

"Oh well, they were small fry I'm sure, for shinobi of your caliber." The man said, regarding each one of the cautious shinobi standing just meters away from him in the colossal tent, with what seemed to be a fake sheepish smile.

"Nezu-san, care to explain what this is all about." The younger kunoichi called out, becoming increasingly impatient as the man and his followers, she assumed, stood casually across from them.

"Well my dear, I'm not usually one to blurt out my plans to the likes of people like you, but just this once, I'll make an exception, after all, I feel that you and I have developed a sort of amiable companionship in the time you've stayed with me." The man said with a deceivingly sweet smile, directed at the pink haired kunoichi.

The six Leaf shinobi just stood, waiting expectantly for the other man to continue.

"Well, you see." He started, putting a finger to his chin as he took on a thoughtful expression.

"I've kind of known from the beginning who you people were, well, Hatake-san really, his silver hair and mask are quite distinguishable. Some of my men had noticed him staking out our camp a while back, which made me curious." The man said eliciting a soft grunt from the slightly taken aback silver haired jounin.

"So, I came up with a rather ridiculous theme to lure him into our family, even though some were reluctant at first." Looking at the people at his sides who simply stood with blank expressions on their faces.

"There is not many people I know with silver colored hair, especially ones as young as you Hatake-san, so I decided to make a theme where all of my troops had unusual hair colors and were beautiful creatures, knowing that with that, you would surely take that opportunity to integrate yourself into the group, with your own shade of hair color." The pinkette was surprised at how formal this conference had been so far, and at how casually he seemed to use Kakashis name.

"When you approached me and asked to join the troop, I wasn't surprised at all, It just confirmed my suspicions that you you were trying to infiltrate our troop. But for what reason, I had yet to determine that exactly, but I had a clue."

"On that first night you performed, I wasn't expecting you to call on this lovely creature." The man said, briefly regarding the pink haired woman before continuing.

"I thought, 'What a strange hair color that is.' then it struck me. I had seen that same shade of pink in a bingo book that had crossed my line of vision a few years ago, which is why I found her appearance to be so familiar, though, I couldn't for the life of me remember her name or where she was from, until I saw you cast the illusion, and instead of letting her be caught in your technique, you shielded her from it. That was when it all came back to me." The man paused, making a gesture of enlightenment.

"I could recall that she was a Konoha shinobi, a young one who was renowned for being the apprentice of the fifth Hokage, whom also had incredible prowess in the field of medical ninjutsu. However, I did not expect her to be radiant creature that she was. I surmised that you had sent for her to come and assist you on this mission, and thankfully, I was right again." Pausing to add emphasis to his words, sizing up the six shinobi who were shifting uncomfortably, surprised at how perceptive the man really was.

"I accepted both of you into the troop so that I could observe you both closer. I still wanted to know your real objective in trying to infiltrate this organisation."

'HAH! He said it! This is an organisation.' The pink kunoichi thought as the man continued, either not caring about his slip or showing that it was intentional. The kunoichi was confused to say the least, but in the period of time that the man had been talking, her blissful ignorance of just how much the man knew had diminished significantly, still, she chose not to show just how unsettled she had become.

They had been caught from the beginning, they had been deceived into thinking that they had the upper hand and that they were well on their way to unraveling the purpose behind this organisation, but no, the people they thought were oblivious to their plans were one step ahead of them, their targets had effectively tricked them into a false sense of victory at finally getting somewhere in the mission.

Focusing her attention back on the man who had a victorious smirk plastered across his face as he scrutinized the reactions of each of the Leaf shinobi as they let all the information sink in. All of them looked anxious as they waited for the mans next words or actions.

Chucking sardonically, the man continued speaking as if he knew he had just won whatever game he had planned from the beginning.

"It was so easy to get you to thoroughly blow your own cover little cherry blossom, my henchmen barely had to press any buttons to get you so fired up."

'So he planned that as well, he had those bastards force me to watch that!' The pink haired woman thought, glaring daggers at the man, a low growl ripping from her throat as she tried to contain her anger, though, all she wanted to do was leap across the short distance to the deplorable little man.

"Its obvious how much you care for this man. Not a smart move as we now know your weakness." The man said, still smirking in the direction of the pink haired woman whose temper was boiling over, flushing red at the his words.

'GAH! I'm going to kill him.' Letting a dangerous aura radiate around her, the fiery pinkette didn't even want to chance a glance in the direction of the silver haired jounin. 'I do not care about him that much.' The young woman denied inwardly.

"Well, that's most of my explanation, now it's your turn. I truly hope you do not resist or I'll have to take the information from you the hard way." The not so useless man said.

"We'll never tell you anything. You can throw whatever you have at us, we are Leaf shinobi, some of the most powerful you will ever see, we can and will handle anything you throw our way." The call of the senbon wielding shinobi came, instinctively crouching down into a defensive stance with his silent partner and older kunoichi stepping up and into the same position, emphasizing his statement further.

"Very well. I'm sure you are all formidable in your own way, but I am positive that my next men will pose much more of a challenge then these pests." The man said, stepping forward and nudging one of the prone forms laying on the ground.

The six people behind the short man stepped forward, instantly dropping the henge that until just now the pink haired woman and her partner had been totally oblivious to them being under. All of them dropping the false illusion that they had been holding up, suddenly looking incredibly average compared to their previous appearance. The four men as well as the two women looked unexpectedly menacing, drawing their weapons and mimicking the stance of the ninja opposite them.

"It really did surprise me that shinobi such as you two, with such high reputations could not pick up on the mass jutsu that my entire company had been under." The man said with a grin.

"Take them all down!" Was the last call of the man before his henchmen lunged towards the opposing figures.


	21. Chapter 21

Prepared for another fight, Sakura couldn't help the concern for herself and her comrades, knowing full and well that all of them were probably feeling wary from the last fight, well, with the exception of Naruto of course, who was expectantly brimming with confidence from the prospect of another, more interesting fight.

The first enemy ninja to attack her was again, expectedly, one of the two kunoichi who were either chosen or chose to fight.

Forcing herself to fight back, even though she was still relatively tired after the while long reprieve they had got whilst Nezu spoke, the pink haired kunoichi started to dodge and deflect the unexpectedly powerful attacks of the vicious enemy kunoichi who she now realized was one of the woman who had given her the coldest reception upon her entry into the troop.

'You're definitely going down!' The fiery kunoichi thought with a new resolve as she found her opportunity to vent at least a little of her pent up aggrevation and frustrations at the treatment she had received during her time with the troop.

Switching from defense to offense as fast as she could, she aimed a chakra laden fist to the other kunoichis face, the kunoichi quickly stepped out of the way smirking at the easily irritated pink haired woman who then started to throw punch after punch, changing tactics as she started to force the enemy kunoichi, who was incredibly evasive, much to the pinkettes disappointment, back towards the edge of the tent and corner her.

Just as they were nearing the tents edge, the enemy kunoichi suddenly flashed out of sight, leaving a stunned and surprised pink haired kunoichu standing their with glowing chakra enhanced fists.

The pinkette was only just in time to dodge the barrage of fire lit shuriken and kunai that whizzed directly towards her back, flipping just out of the way, only just missing getting hit, the kunoichi snapped her eyes up to meet the smug face of her opponent who was busy doing hand sign after hand sign with her hands in rapid succession.

'Shit' the pink haired kunoichi thought when she realized what kind of jutsu her opponent was going to use.

Trying to be even faster, the pink haired kunoichi began to form her own set of hand seals, moving expertly through the hand signs as if she had done them many times.

Looking up for a few moments to see where her opponent was at in forming the hand signs for her jutsu, Sakura realized that she was almost done, the smirk that was on the other kunoichis face had fallen as well, replaced with a look of intense concentration.

The pink haired kunoichi was almost completely concentrated on forming her jutsu, she was beyond worried about her own chakra reserves as it was being rapidly depleted from the jutsu she was trying to use.

Suddenly her opponent called out the jutsu she had formed.

"KATON! BŌKAHEKI NAIHA!"

'Shit! Just a little more' the pink haired kunoichi thought snapping her eyes up to the slumped and wary, yet satisfied figure of her opponent. Slowly, a wall of flames rose, blocking her in as the wall of fire grew in height and encroached all around the currently prone pink haired kunoichi who could already feel the blistering heat of the blazing fire.

Continuing her hand seals whilst biting her lip in deep concentration, thanking the gods that her opponents jutsu took time to completely form, the pink haired kunoichi was just about ready. She hoped this jutsu would do to end this fight, because if it didn't, she would be seriously screwed from the chakra taxing jutsu she chose to perform.

"HYŌRŌ NETTŌ NO JUTSU" The pinkette called and in no time at all powerful geysers started sprouting out of the ground, creating large cracks in the ground, extinguishing the large fire wall that surrounded her as an incredibly strong gust of freezing cold air started blowing the water in the direction of the enemy kuniochi who was struggling to evade the large amount of water that was rapidly increasing in quantity as it formed a perfect circle around the enemy kunoichis wriggling form, instantly freezing on contact, limiting the other kunoichis movements significantly as the ice froze her limbs in one place, before she was completely engulfed in the ice prison jutsu.

Changing her hand sign with the two fingers on her right hand pointing straight up directly in front of her mouth, the fire release hand sign, the pink haired kunoichi began to blow on her fingers as if she were blowing out a candle, but very slowly, watching how the enemy kunoichis previously frozen form began to twitch as the ice began to melt away around her, drowning in a pool of rapidly heating water, still caged in a thin barrier of a still frozen sheet of ice, between the cool outside world and the boiling water that was boiling her from the inside out.

Still focused on her task, the pinkette watched, with a beads of sweat now dripping down her face, as the skin of the kunoichi trapped inside her boiling ice prison began to take on different pigments, from a light shade of pink to a blistering red where boils and bumps had formed on the enemy kunoichis exposed skin. All the while, the bug eyed, trapped kunoichis expressions ranged from surprised and looking as if she was choking, she was obviously in excruciating pain.

The pinkette did not take much pleasure in seeing the pained expression painting her enemies face, even though she had wanted to serve the utmost retribution towards the kunoichi, she let her more compassionate side ease into her mind, wanting suddenly to just put her enemy kunoichi out of her misery.

Blowing slightly harder on her two extended fingers, the pink haired kunoichi watched as the trapped kunoichis writhing body froze in all its movements, locking itself into a back breaking position for a brief moment, before the red blistering skin finally gave way, bursting inside the ice prison, filling it up with the blood and flesh and every other organ inside the kunoichis body.

Lowering her hands down to the ground, steadying herself against the dry dirt beneath her, the jutsu that the pink haired kunoichi had used fell, letting the contents of the crimson colored boiling hot water spill across the ground. Not yet able to focus on her surroundings just yet after over exerting herself so much, the pink haired kunoichi tried to stand on shaky legs.

After several attempts at trying to get her exhausted, bruised and stiff body to stand, with the sheer will she possessed after years of training under Lady Tsunade, the pinkette finally made it to her feet, letting her eyes slip up to assess her surroundings and where her comrades were at with their own opponents.

Realizing rather quickly that she must have had it easy, even if her wary body said otherwise, the pink haired kunoichi watched as her other comrades were still deep in battle with their own respective opponents, all of them, including her eternally fired ex-teammate, looked as weary, if not more so, then she was, their surroundings were a mixture of soaked through the ground to charcoal in others, even the tent walls were hanging by literal threads after being battered by multiple heavy duty jutsu that had been served out by each of the shinobi, including the evidently powerful opponents that each leaf shinobi were paired up against.

Deciding that she should probably help someone in some way, even if she was spent, she quickly observed each fight to see who might need a little help.

Instantly, for reasons unknown to her, when she found her eyes landing on the fight involving her silver haired ex-sensei and his opponent, who yielded a rather sketchy weapon, she felt inclined to help him the most, but she knew she should help the most powerful player that her team had, so even though she wanted so dearly to aid the man who had been her most trusted ally during the last few months she rushed over to her blonde haired teammate, whose fight already looked like it was drawing to an end, if only just for a small amount of help to speed up the process.

So fast that the enemy ninja never saw what was coming, the pink haired kunoichi used up a minimal amount of chakra, trying to conserve what little she had left, aiming a chakra laced fist into the unsuspecting ninjas back, hearing a satisfying crunch before he went flying towards her blonde haired teammate who, along with two of his clones, was preparing what she knew was the finishing blow.

"RASENSHURIKEN" The loud, yet obviously exhausted voice of the blonde ninja came before the enemy ninja came flying into the trap, a medley of expressions crossing over his face as his body began to tear apart under the strain of the powerful jutsu.

'Of course he'd end with that one' the pink haired kunoichi thought, knowing that he probably still had more where that came from, after a small break.

Looking up from the cold body of his opponent, the blonde ninja looked up to his pink haired ex-teammate, with beads of sweat dripping down his face and charred clothing, flashing her a beaming grin that still held that ever present Naruto-esque charm that he was so famous for, before flashing off to the side to help one of his comrades. Following his movements, her eyes saw how he began helping the only other kunoichi that had come on this mission, seeing also that her other two sempai, the senbon wielder and his scar faced partner were now teamed up against one of the last three enemy ninja.

Flicking her eyes over to the silver haired man, she observed that he was nearing the end of his fight, aiming to land the last blow on his opponent.

The pinkettes eyes widened in alarm as she realized the otherwise forgotten little troop leader running at full speed, which was extremely and surprisingly fast, towards the silver haired jonin, whose back was facing the oncoming small man, who for his size, height and width wise, seemed to be more stealthy then his body should be, with a large sword In hands.

Pumping chakra into her feet and legs, dirt crunching and giving way after each one of her steps, her body moved on its own accord to stop the small man and his sword from making contact with the occupied silver haired jonin.

Making it to the desired spot, she felt that she made it just in time, pushing the silver haired man out of the way, with more force the she had intended, until she felt a crippling pain slash directly through her mid section.

As if time had slowed, she looked around at her comrades, who had noticed what situation she was in and were trying there best to end their own battles, she looked down to where the pain, which had thankfully numbed, to find a sharp blade protruding from her side.

Feeling extremely woozy, her head rose sluggishly, looking for the familiar sight of silver whilst she dropped slowly to her knees before crashing, unobstructed, face first into the awaiting dirt below, stilling her movements completely, feeling unusually relaxed and at ease, knowing that she had saved the man who had saved her many other times.

She could still hear the shouts and calls of her comrades as they had ended their own battles and were making their way over to help her.

She knew what was coming, and she resigned herself to the inevitable fate that awaited her. Disregarding the facts that she had a blade crossed through her body, and that it was probably laced with poison and she had no chakra to suppress it or heal the gaping holes on her sides, she began to recall every memorable moment of her life.

From her toddler days, to her years in the academy, to her graduation from the academy and being instated into her team, Team Seven. All of her adventures and regrets. She went through all the people she was leaving behind, her family, Ino, Naruto, Sasuke, all of her friends and acquaintances, her shishou, Kakashi.

'Kakashi' she thought again, thought about all of their experiences throughout the years, leading up to their most recent shared moments.

She had no idea why her last train of thought was directed towards her silver haired ex-sensei, but she welcomed it, feeling her slowly beating heart pick up speed for a few moments as his face ran through her mind, his flawless face, in her opinion.

She heard the patter of what sounded like slow, dripping rain pattering the dirt directly beneath her face. The pinkette knew that it couldn't have been rain, knew that it was the tears that she couldn't feel running down her face and onto the ground, which she currently had no will to hold back at that moment, she knew the poison was beginning to take full effect, blocking off all of her senses, when her sense of hearing began to wane as she heard what would probably be her last.

"Sakura-san!"

"Sakura-san!"

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

The voices of her comrades called, concern and worry laced their exclamations of her name.

"Sakura, come on. Come on! Don't give up on me. You have to live Sakura, please. Come back to me."

That voice, that beautiful, rich baritone she knew all to well, practically screaming into her near deaf ears, so close to her at that moment, it sounded broken, she didn't know of that was the sound, but at this moment, she chose to let herself believe that he would grieve her death.

'Kakashi' she thought, trying to will her voice to say his name once more.

'Kakashi' she could feel a sudden warmth heating the side of her ribs.

"Sakura-san. Don't give up. We'll get you home as soon as possible. Please, don't give up." Shizune, her sempai, was trying to heal her wounds, but it would be futile, she could already feel her body begin to fail her.

"Please Sakura! Wake up for me, don't you dear give up. You're not dying before me!"

'Kakashi' she thought again. He was still beside her, willing her to respond.

"Kakashi" Her voice came out croaky, lower then a whisper, but she knew it was enough, for him.

"Please love, stay alive for me." He was whispering into her ears, holding her flush against her body.

"SAKURA! SHIZUNE WHAT HAPPENED!"

'Shishou?'

* * *

Katon! Bōkaheki Naiha - Fire Release! Firewall implosion

Hyōrō Nettōu no jutsu - Boiling Ice Prison technique


	22. Chapter 22

"HURRY! She's been poisoned! She's barely breathing!" The exclamation of the panicked and hysterical blonde haired knuckleheaded ninja called, alerting not only the inhabitants of the hospital, but most likely the entire population of Konoha (If not the whole Fire country), to the arrival of his team.

"NARUTO! Keep it DOWN! We're rushing her into a room now, she'll be alright! I tell you!" The voice of the equal parts worried and frustrated busty blonde older kunoichi sounded, irritated at the boisterous blonde ninjas antics. The only thing she wanted to focus on was assessing the damage done to her young apprentice, who now layed unconcious and unstable under the concentrated preparative hands of her colleagues, her kohai.

'Don't you dare die on me girl!' Confident in not only her own abilities, but in the will of her young apprentice, assuming the girl was fighting to stay alive. Never the less, she was beyond determined to revive the immobilized pink haired girl, if not to slap her silly for letting this happen to herself. The slug princess was positively adamant that the girl would eventually open her eyes, of course, it would be to face the wrath of her thoroughly pissed "Shishou" as the young girl would have put it, respectfully.

Busting through the doors, not pausing for a second as she stormed straight through the other medics in the room, shuffling to let her through, making her way over to the table where her young apprentice lay, under the chakra laced palms of the obviously exhausted brown haired kunoichi, who was still trying, with what little amount chakra she had at that moment, to bring back just a slither of life into the pale, nearly lifeless body of the young pink haired girl sprawled limply across the operating table.

"Shizune! I've got this, go and get some rest!" The older blonde kunoichi called, hands already glowing with healing chakra as she immediately began working on extracting the obviously fast acting poison from the petite form that lay before her, not sparing a glance in the direction of the slumped over poison expert as she sluggishly dragged herself from the room.

"Come on Sakura." She hissed through her teeth, willing her mind to believe everything would be just fine, even if the vitals of her patient said otherwise.

* * *

Meanwhile, a slightly distraught but mostly concerned silver haired man sat slumped over in a chair in the hospital waiting area, with his elbows on his knees and his head firmly planted in his two hands, which were tangled in his shock of gravity defying hair, frozen in place as he tried to forget the image of his little cherry blossom, pale, with lips a frightening shade of purple that he knew was a horribly bad sign, he tried to forget how cold her normally warm body felt in his insistent hands as he tried to force her to open her eyes, tried to forget her feeble attempts at smiling even in the condition she was in. Why she was smiling so, contentedly, he had a few theories, but he refused to see even that as something good from the situation, she looked as if she was going to give up, he was sure of that, but he desperately hoped that she would have changed her mind in time to try and stay alive, even if that thought was selfish of him.

He let the guilt override all the other emotions as he realized what she had done for him. She had put herself between the blade that should have hit him and himself, taking the attack of the sleazy little man. All he could think about was that it should have been him lying on that table, nearing death, it wasn't as if he hadn't been there before, but his young, beautiful and vibrant little ex-student should not be in that place.

Sighing resignedly, he began to straighten out, pulling his fingers roughly through his tangled mane, still dirty and greasy from the blood and dirt. Barely registering the familiar presence of the orally fixated ninja fall into the seat beside him.

Not bothering to regard his colleague, he just averted his eyes downwards, fixing his intense glare on the white, tiled floor below, stuffing his hands into his pockets before letting his head fall back against the wall and staring fixatedly at the ceiling, still trying to halt the unsettling uneasiness that had settled in his mind and body.

"Yo. You need a rest old man, you look like shit." Oh how very tactful and eloquently put were the first words of the senbon wielding jonin sounded, minutes after he had settled into the seat next to the copy nin.

Smirking sardonically whilst stiil averting his gaze towards the ceiling, the silver haired man grunted before responding.

"I'm fine. You go get some rest, older man." This prompted a soft chuckle from brown haired man next to him.

"Seriously man! Stop beating yourself up. Okay, yeah, she's in pretty bad shape, but you couldn't have stopped her from doing it, she moved all in her own, its not your fault." The brown haired man said, fixing his long time acquaintance with a pointed stare, which had as much effect as trying to extinguish a forest fire with an eye drop, as the silver haired mans eyes remined fixed on the ceiling.

Sighing exasperatedly, the silver haired man closed his eyes, partly from frustration at himself and mostly from the overwhelming exhaustion he loathed to admit, even to himself.

Only by sheer will was he able to force his eyes to open again, turning his head slightly in the direction of his long time acquaintance to assess the brown haired man, who had since given up on his futile glare at the silver haired man, he was now slumped over in his own chair with his chin being cradled in his two hands palms up. The silver haired man noted how bored the man looked, but he knew better then to think the obvious about his senbon wielding colleague who had taken to being just as aloof as he was at times. He knew that the brown haired man was anticipating some kind of reaction out of him, waiting for the inevitable negative that the copy nin was known for, when it came to his own health.

"No. Its... my fault she got hit." The silver haired man stated, the last part just above a whisper.

"Kakash..."

"Go home Genma. You're not looking to hot yourself my friend." The silver haired man cut off his friend, prompting the brown haired ninja to snap his head in his direction, not glaring, but scrutinizing the the silver haired jounin who was simply smiling with his signature eye crease, meant to placate the brown haired ninja.

How ever reassuring the expression was meant to be, it obviously didn't do much to dissuade the senbon wielding ninjas from staying, out of irrational concern, though the reaction the silver haired man got from the other was the knitting together of eyebrows and pursed lips.

"Im fine." The silver haired man continued, deciding that words might do a better job of reassuring his brown haired acquaintance.

"Okay. But...make sure you go get some rest. I'll catch you later Kakashi." The senbon wielding ninja said, standing up and brushing off the invisible dust that had accumulated in his already stained clothing, receiving a non-commital grunt from the still seated silver haired, throwing a quick wave over his shoulder while making his way down the corridor.

'Not likely' the silver haired man thought, knowing very well that he wouldn't be resting anytime soon, even if he wanted to.

Assuming his previous position, tilting his head back to gaze at the ceiling again, closing his eyes every few minutes to shake the fatigue away, the silver haired man sat and waited, waited for any news the pertained to the pink haired kunoichi fighting for her life on that operating table.


	23. Chapter 23

"Hey Forehead. You're looking like shit, as always... Better soon... Had us worried... The wedding."

It had been like this for what felt like months to the seemingly comatosed pink haired woman as she sat and listened to the stories of her many visitors, come to simply keep her company, and in her blonde friends case, keep her in the loop about all of the gossip she had been missing out on in Konoha.

She was still unable to will any part of herself to respond to the light touches and fussing of many of her visitors, to voice her opinions on any story being told to her.

There was never a time that she was alone for long, not that she had any real concept of time, with her being in her current state, but whenever her mind was awake, in her still sleeping body, she always felt a presence close to her, at all times.

She really did appreciate how much she was being taken care of, and of every single person that had come to visit her. From the ones who left her feeling sad long after they would leave (This group consisting of her family and even the first visit from Ino, which she knew would have left her in tears, had her body not been so unresponsive), to the rather comical visits of, not only her boisterous knuckleheaded friend and their socially awkward adopted teammate, but also the frequent visits of the green clad Taijutsu master and his pupils, especially the mini version of himself that had long since given up on waiting for her to reciprocate his strong feelings of love. Those visits left her feeling rather mirthful, knowing she would be in tears for completely different reasons.

Although she appreciated all of them, from the bottom of her heart, she couldn't help the ache in her heart about the fact that she had only felt the presence of her silver haired ex-sensei once whilst her mind was aware of her surroundings. She was content in knowing that he had visited at least once, her heart had skipped upon feeling that familiar chakra signature enter she room she had been residing in, but she was thoroughly disappointed when he sat at least ten feet away from her in the corner of the room, just sitting there, not saying one word. She could have sworn that he had fallen asleep, but not once had she heard his breathing even out, even from across the room she could hear how erratic his breathing was, as if he'd just ran several miles before popping in for a visit.

She wanted desperately for him to come closer, to whisper sweet nothings in her ear like when she had gotten hit by the poisoned blade, she felt like she needed him to sit with her and hold her close, make her body respond with simply his voice, but she knew that was just wishful thinking, as she felt his presence slip unceremoniously out of her room window, not a trace of his visit left in his wake. She felt something in her chest clench, before she let her mind glaze over where she rested fully against her bed, trying to push away the sudden ill feelings that were directed at the elusive silver haired man.

Not once since that brief visit, who knows how long ago, had she felt his presence again, even though her heart would skip everytime the door would open, only for it to be someone completly different to who she had been wanting, slamming her hopes into rubble each time.

She thought he might have been maybe a little remorseful, seeing as how it was his life she had saved, but no, that must not have been the case.

She still had hope though, that he cared, and that his guilt was eating at him so much that he couldn't stand to come see her, bed ridden and unmoving, not that she actually wanted him to feel that way, but she supposed he could have visited more.

'Bye Pig.' The pink haired woman thought as she heard the whisper of a farewell fall from her female blonde haired friends mouth as she shuffled out of the room.

The pinkette knew better then to think that she would be left alone in the room for very long, and she was proven right when she heard the clicking of heels against the cold tile floor outside her room door.

Hearing the door creak open, the pink haired kunoichi, with little else to do, continued to lay there in her incapacitated state.

"Her vitals are still the same my Lady, nothing has changed si..."

"So why isn't she awake yet! We both made sure all of that poison was extracted yet she's in the exact same condition she was in a month ago."

Following the small rant made by her mentor, the pinkette heard a sigh that she presumed was from her brown haired sempai.

"Look, My Lady. You and I both know that she should be awake, in fact, I'm positive her mind can at least register whats being said right now, but let's be honest Tsunade-sama, the poison had enough time to do alot of damage and even you're not sure if what we've done is enough to ensure her full recovery." The brown haired kunoichi stated as she watched the expressions of understanding and comprehension cross over the Godaimes face, accompanied by a frustrated grunt.

"Yes, I know! But she is one of our best medics! With the exception of you and I. As well as the one kunoichi who works best with and handles two of our most powerful and infuriating ninja, so it's put alot of pressure on me to find a temporary replacement for her, not to mention her duties here at the hospital. And...And..."

"I know my Lady, It's...disconcerting to see Sakura, of all people, lying there so helpless, and I know you're frustrated about the many uncertainties regarding her condition at this point, but for now, we can only wait."

The brown haired woman said this while walking over and placing a reassuring and comforting hand on the shoulder of her once mentor who was slumped against the wall, looking weary and exhausted, as if the conversation had taken some of her infamous determination.

"I suppose you're right Shizune. The only thing we can do now is wait." This was said in a quiet voice as the woman straightened out before walking over to where her pink haired apprentice lay, gripping her hand briefly before letting go and walking briskly from the room, poison expert in tow.

Inwardly sighing, the pinkette ran over what had just been said.

She knew that the poison had probably done alot of irreparable damage (If you didn't have two extremely proficient medic ninja working on you that is) and she also knew that her body should be able to move, at least a little, but no matter how much she tried, she was unable to will her any part if her body to respond. It was also a factor of how much chakra she had used up during her last battles and instictively trying to heal herself after the blow, her chakra had been near exhausted. All of this would definitely be contributing to her continued immobility and comatosed state.

If it continued like this, it was likely that she would be put off life support, knowing that the funds that were accumulating while she was incapacitated were probably soaring to new heights and it was certainly assumed that the esteemed Godaime was the one keeping her alive this long. A month of being in a coma was a rare occurence at the hospital, considering how many high leveled medics were there to treat any patient, her being one of them. It was beyond frustrating not being able to move or say anything, but now, she was determined to recover as fast as possible, with a powerful, new vigor she decided she would now force her body to get moving in no time flat.

Not two minutes after the two women had left she felt another set of chakra signatures nearing the room she was in, two blearingly obvious chakra signatures.

Busting through the doors, the exuberant blonde ninja bounded over to the chair directly beside his best female friend, grabbing her hand slightly rougher then acceptable, yet ginger when considering his immense strength, he sat down waiting for his beloved to pull up a chair beside him.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Its me and Hinata, we've got great news to tell you, and I'm warning you, it's a pretty big deal, so don't scream or hit me for telling you sooner."

This declaration was met with silence as the pink haired kunoichi continued to lie there, motionless as a statue.

"Sooo, anyway. Me and Hinata are having a baby! Isn't that great Sakura-chan! We're so happy, right darling?" The blonde boy inquired, turning on his lover with a beaming smile that would put the Mighty Gai-sensei to shame.

"Mmm... It is a bit nerve wracking though." The beautiful Hyuuga spoke, over her constant stuttering, yet still quite soft spoken.

"Maah, there's no need to worry. This kids going to have the best aunties and uncles around, including Baa-chan too! Not to mention he's going to have the most awesome mother and father too! Nee' Aunty Sakura-chan." The blonde man said, grabbing his partners hand.

The pink haired kunoichi was completely ecstatic. She was sure that if she could, she would have pounced in the two parents to be and started blubbering out of pure elation.

These two would make the most wonderful parents, she was positive, and the fact that she had been one of the first people they had shared the news with, she couldn't have been happier.

"And, the elders of the Hyuuga clan, and Hiashi-sama have agreed to let us host a wedding ceremony, before the baby's born, and after our two sempai of course."

'Oh, Naruto.' The pink haired woman thought, briefly trying to determine the two sempai who were getting, disregarding the thought for later as she began to recall how lonely and abandoned Naruto had been as a child, with no friends or family to call his own. Of course, It was just like the blonde haired man to completely turn his life around.

He was now loved and respected by all who resided in the village and had bonds with many shinobi from all over the nation. He was renowned and famous for his abilities and power, and he had an unmatched skill in befriending the most unlikely of people (If his friendship with the previously frightening Fifth Kazekage is any indication). He was in line to become the next Hokage of the village, fulfilling his life time dream, and now, he was getting married to one of the most beautiful and very powerul kunoichi in Konoha, who he adored and vice versa, and now they had their first child on the way.

It was enough to break maybe even the toughest ninja, or so she'd like to think, since she was close to having a mental break down.

"So hurry up Sakura-chan! Wake up so you can be here for Hinata and I, and be our own personal medic for whenever the pregnancy gets a little rough." The blonde man said, squeezing the hand of the still motionless pink haired kunoichi, none to gently.

'Nows the time Sakura, squeeze back.' The pinkette thought as she furiously tried to will her hand to move, to respond to her blonde haired teammates prompting grip.

'Come On!' Determined, the kunoichi continued to will her hand to move, even if it was just a slight grip, she would be content, it would be her first step to recovery.

'Do it! Come ON!' Almost there, with just her mind, tingles in the hand that was held by the blonde man started prickling beneath her skin, a welcoming feeling after being numb for so long.

'Just a little bit more.' The pinkette almost felt mentally exhausted, but she would not relent, she had to try, and try she did.

Suddenly, miraculously, she could feel her index finger curl minutely, still cradled in the blond ninjas hands. She could feel the warmth engulfing her hand as the feeling started returning to it.

"Sakura?" The blonde ninja whispered, not quite sure if what he felt was real.

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" The Hyuuga eiress at his side asked, trying to assess her pink haired friends body.

"I-I think she just...moved." The confused blonde haired man said, watching as his lover stood from her chair, activating her Byakugan And locking in on the motionless body before her.

Gasping, the dark haired woman ran a hand over the main chakra points of the pink haired kunoichis body.

"I think she's waking up. Her chakra, well, the small amount there is has started circulating." Turning her attention on her wide eyed husband to be, who looked sligtly watery eyed, she stretched over the blonde mans arm, still clutching the hand of his pink haired teammate, to push the button that would alert the nurses and send them rushing to the room.

"Come on Sakura-chan! Wake up! You're almost there!" The boisterous blonde exclaimed, leaning in close to the pink haired kunoichis face.

"Mmm... Too loud." The pinkettes croaky voice spoke, hoarse and lower then a whisper but practically a shout to the two keen aired jounin in the room.

"SAKURA-CHAN! You're finally awake." The blonde haired ninja exlaimed, lowering his voice signicantly in the last part as he cleverly assessed how loud he had been upon saying her name.

"NARUTO! Back up, let me see!" Crashing through the doors, a few lower leveled medics scuffling in behind with an equipment trolley, the fiery slug princess marched to the side of her apprentices bed, bending over her form and pressing glowing, chakra laden palms over the pinkettes abdomen.

"Sakura! Can you hear me girl? Speak." The powerful kunoichi called, waiting for the pink haired kunoichi to respond.

"Shishou..." It was the only thing she could get out at that moment, since it felt like sand paper rubbing the flesh of her throat each time a sound came out of her mouth.

"Shh... Its alright Sakura, just try and sit up so I can give you some water." The Godaime said softly, motioning for one of her assistants to fetch a cup of water.

With that, the pinkette began to slowly open her eyes, to a surprisingly dark room she observed, probably due to the shades being drawn, she let her mentors hands guide her up into a sitting position against the bed board behind her, and letting the same set of hands guide the cup of water to her parched mouth.

She found it difficult to swallow on her first attempts, resulting in an embarassing display of water dripping from the sides of her mouth, but she knew noone would judge her, especially after her ordeal.

"Ah, you've kept us waiting a little while haven't you Sakura." Her mentor stated whilst still prodding her with her chakra.

Trying for a sheepish smile, but not sure if she succeeded, the stiff pink haired woman glanced up at her mentor, who was smirking mirthfully down at her glowing hands, the pinkette tried for the "scratching the back of the neck" trick, quickly disregarding the thought as she realized how limited her movements were.

Smiling up at her shishou and then to her blonde haired, self proclaimed brother, who was standing in the corner of the room, trying to maintain, yet miserably failing, the smile plastered across his face even with tears rolling from his eyes, his wife to be standing next to him, consolling him whilst also directing her eyes on her recently woken pink haired friend.

Chuckling softly, she couldn't help the word that slipped out of her mouth.

"Sorry."


	24. Chapter 24

A month had passed since the pink haired kunoichi had awoken from her unconscious state and during that month she had been subjected to the constant fussing and badgering of almost every single nurse (by the orders of her overbearing mentor), and her many visitors who had visited her daily, (with the exception of one elusive man), but she tried not to dwell on that, which wasn't as hard a task as she had originally thought it would be.

Being ordered to stay in the hospital for at least three weeks, the pink haired kunoichi had spent a long, (maybe excessively long) time recuperating and trying to get her body back to its previous condition. She still, was never left alone for long and was always accompanied by a friend or colleague each time she wanted to venture out of her room, she didn't mind it much, or at all really, as the people she was with usually took her mind off other, pressing, matters that might have consumed her mind, had she let herself think about it.

After being away from Konoha for so long, and then being hospitalized and immobile upon her return the pinkette was far behind on the gossip mill, though, she needn't worry to much about that since the majority of her visitors would talk her ears off about everything that had happened or what was going to happen, filling her in on practically every detail as well.

The biggest topic of interest in Konoha these days would have to be the up coming wedding, which the pinkette was beyond ecstatic and only mildly surprised, for, the two lovebirds who had decided to join together for a chance at wedded bliss just happened to be her brown haired Sempai and the senbon wielding jounin.

Admittedly, she wasn't surprised about the two actually being together, she had her suspicions that the two older ninja had a "thing" going on, especially throughout her most recent mission with them, rather, she was surprised at how fast their relationship had progressed, she wasn't sure though how long they had been together, but she was pretty sure they weren't an item before the mission, but it was quite a long mission, she supposed that would've been plenty of time for them to get together.

She never pried her brown haired sempai for any of the details that lead up to the two older ninja realising their feelings for each other were more than just strictly platonic, and she was extremely happy to see two people who had found love, even in the midst of the twisted world of a shinobi.

The pinkette was surprised when the poison expert kunoichi came to her room, seemingly to do the daily evaluation of her patient, but the pink haired kunoichi could tell she was leading up to saying something that may or may not have been important.

"Sakura-san?" The brown haired woman questioned, still hovering over the younger woman.

"Hmm." The pink haired woman hummed non-commitally, trying not to come on as apprehensively as she really was, she hoped it wasn't something that had to do with her being hospitalised for a more extended period of time, because, as much as she loved being their and helping people, being cooped up in a small, dull coloured room and bedridden was not something she enjoyed.

"Well, I'm sure you'd have heard about my... Engagement, right?" The brown haired woman stated, looking slightly apprehensive too.

"Aah, of course." The pinkette answered automatically, becoming slightly confused as to the direction the conversation was headed.

If the brown haired woman thought her kohai wouldn't be in attendance, she was seriously mistaken, she would be one of the first people there, helping out and crying at the ceremony, even if it meant she would have to arrive in full hospital garb to be there.

"Well, I was just wondering if..." The brown haired kunoichi paused, biting her lip nervously, an action that was rarely seen done by said woman.

The pink haired woman just sat up slowly, waiting patiently for her sempai to continue.

"I was wondering if you'd be a bridesmaid at my wedding." The poison expert said, almost questioned, all in one breath as she appraised the stunned pink haired kunoichi.

The younger kunoichi sat, staring at her sempai. She was touched, really touched that the older kunoichi would seek her out and ask her to be one of the woman who stood by her side, supporting her and helping to make her special day just that much better.

"I've already cleared you for the day, it's next week, a-and I'd really appreciate it, Sakura-chan." The older kunoichi spoke in a rush using her old honorific of endearment, hoping to reassure the still unresponsive pinkette.

"I don't know what to... Of course, I'd be hounoured!" The younger woman sat up more and pratically pounced on the older kunoichi, hugging her close and letting her know how much the offer meant to her.

"Well, that's a relief. When I asked Tsunade-sama I had to practically beg, but then, I just settled on making her be my maid of honour. She never really had a choice after that." The older kunoichi stated as the pinkette pulled away to lie back on the bed, a grin plastered on her face that mirrored the one now plastered on the beaming brown haired woman.

"You're going to make the prettiest bride Shizune." The pinkette complimented the older kunoichi, prompting a subtle blush to color her cheeks.

"Thank you Sakura, really." The pinkette knew that it wasn't just the compliment that she was thankful for.

"Well, I better get going, my shift is almost over and I've got an appointment with a flowerists." The brown haired woman said with an easy laugh as she collected her things.

"Ah, ah... You stay right there, I think I can handle this one alone, besides, I'm going to the Yamanaka flower shop, so I know I'll be in great hands." The older kunoichi reprimanded, noticing the pinkette sit up as if to grab her clothes to tag along.

Of course, Sakura knew that her sempai would be in very capable hands, Ino had always been great at arranging floral decorations, but she was one of the bridemaids now, so she definitely felt obliged to help out in some way.

"I'll tell you what, tomorrow, you can come along with Kurenai and I to choose the cake. I know we're cutting it close. If I knew it would take this much work, I would've put a little more thought into saying yes to that man." The brown haired woman proposed, grinning widely at her last comment.

The pinkette sat back and settled in again, assured by the fact that she'd at least have a small opportunity to help the bride, although, she didn't quite think that going along to taste delicious cakes was that much help, but she was excited to finally be getting away from the hospital.

"Okay. I'll just sit here being bored, like every other day I've been here." The pinkette spoke with a half pout, half smirk as she tried to suppress her smile.

"You do that." The older kunoichi said, chuckling at the pinkettes dejected expression.

"I"ll be around in the afternoon to pick you up, wait up for me, neh'. Gotta go, see ya Sakura."

'As if I have a choice' the pink haired kunoichi thought as she sunk back into her bed, waiting for her next visitor to drop by, Sai and Naruto she surmised, If the loud and husky "TEME!" that was heard not far from her room door was any indication.

She chuckled and sat back up as her exuberant blonde teammate and their pale faced adoptive teammate came tumbling through the door.

"Hii Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura."

The two greeted from the ground, tangled in each others limbs.

'My boys' the pink haired woman thought as she outwardly sighed at their antics.

* * *

The week had passed in a flash and Sakura was quite excited, as she had been able to help out a lot more after her first outing to select the perfect cake for the wedding.

She had helped decorate the space where the ceremony would be held, which was on the roof of the Hokage tower, along with a few other kunoichi and a couple of the young chuunin boys.

They had succesfully transformed the area into a beautiful mash of burgundy red and a soft yellow that complemented each other beautifully, and was highlighted by the sun that, to everyones relief, shone brilliantly throughout the day.

She thought about what Shizune and Genma were doing now, which wasn't hard to do considering Shizune was so fussy and tried to be efficient with everything and her soon to be husband was probably sitting back relaxing with his suit haphazardly done, drinking away his worries with his close companions that he had chosen to have at his side through the whole "ordeal".

The pinkette was pretty sure that as long as Shizune showed up at the alter, the senbon wielding ninja wouldn't care about anything else.

She had to admit, they were a cute couple, even if it was weird of her to think that way about them. They constantly bickered, half-heartedly, whenever their contrasting characters reared their heads, but they were always seen smiling at each other, even during their small arguments, and soon after, you would most definitely see them disappear... only to return with slightly mussed hair and in Shizune's case, a furious blush colouring her cheeks, before they'd kiss each other on the cheek before parting in different directions.

She was so happy for them, though, she couldn't help the small- ish amount of jealousy at seeing the couple, so enraptured in each other as if they were two teenagers in the honey moon stage.

She tried not to think about that too much because when she did, when she tried to picture herself with one person for life, the person she tried not to think about these last few months came to her mind, and she despised it, she was mad at him for not once coming to visit her, she hadn't seen him once since she had been out and about, preparing everything for the wedding.

Not once did she that shock of silver, and to her disgust, she knew she was disappointed by this, because she knew how much she wanted to see him.

"I wonder if he'll be at the wedding." The kunoichi let the errant thought pass through her mind. If he had been avoiding her, surely the wedding ceremony of what she thought to be one of his closest friends would be reason enough for him to climb out from under whatever rock he'd burrowed himself under.

Letting her mind come back to the present, the kunoichi stood back from her task, which was tying red and gold ribbons around a white pole jutting out of the side of the clearing atop the Hokage tower.

Satisfied with her work, she twirled to assess the rest of the area. What she saw stunned her, and she was amazed what the talent hands of several ninja could do, not surprising, since they could all walk across water, and small beams posed no challenge for them.

"Shizune's going to love it." The pinkette thought beaming at the hard work that was finally finished.

* * *

It was still early, and the actual ceremony didn't start until around 5:30, even so, the room where the bride and all her bridesmaids was bustling with fabrics ands make-ups flying everywhere, with each woman taking turns in front of the mirror to make sure their hair was set perfectly before they put their bridesmaids dresses on.

Everyone was helping each other, and even though they were all in a rush to do something, the air in the room was palpable, the excitement, nervousness and fright was easy to comprehend, looking at every single person in the room, the pinkette let her curious eyes settle on the bride, she was mostly obscured from view due to the few woman who were more or less done with their own appearance and preparation, much like herself, and were now fussing over every small detail of the brides dress, trying to put everything in perfect position, not that it would matter much, with all the rushing around, the brides wing would be completely prepared in the next hour at least, leaving them a couple of hours to sit around and try and bring down their nerves and excitement, probably over a few glasses of wine, since they were all of age.

"Sakura-san, come over here a second." She snapped her head in the direction of where her name was being called, seeing the older ruby eyed kunoichi signalling her over to where her and the snake kunoichi were adjusting the brides dress.

Rushing over, ready to be put to work, Sakura couldn't help her eyes from wondering over the fully clothed form of the soon to be married woman, standing radiant in her wedding dress.

The older kunoichi, for her wedding day, hadn't opted for a traditional white dress, opting unstead for a rich burgundy color that would of course match perfectly with the mix of colors that had been chosen to decorate the place where the ceremony was being held.

It was a beautiful dress, with a plunging neckline, exposing the cleavage of the usually conservative kunoichi, intricate designs laced into the fabric, marking the torso of the dress before it cinched in at the waist to accentuate the curves of the woman who wore it, the skirt, which started high on the waist looked like silk, puffing out elegantly and trailing to the ground. There was no train, as she supposed the bride liked it, efficient as always, even though they all knew that most shinobi had a natural grace and poise, the bride was not taking any chances as the train may have caught on something.

But even for how beautiful the dress was, the woman standing in it looked even more beautiful, gorgeous, with her hair tied back into a short yet detailed braid which was held up by pins, with a few loose starbd that were twirled into flowing curls to frame the beautiful pale face beneath, save for her cheeks that had a slight blush that was undecidedly real or from the make up set up along the work benches, not that she needed make up, being a medic of her caliber ensured that you were healthy and scar free and that it showed obviously in her smooth skin.

She would agree with everyone, that Genma Shiranui was indeed one of the luckiest men in the village.

Snapping back to attention, she waited for Kurenai to put her idle hands into action.

"Okay, Sakura, could you grab that sash right there and tie it around Shizunes waist, tie it in a neat bow." Rushing into action, the pinkette grabbed the sash from the hanger and reached around so that it pulled in around her silent sempais waist, cinching her waist in even more, wrapping it around twice before beginning to tie a perfect bow.

"Thank you ladies, I could never thank you enough." The sudden outburst of the bride prompted everyone to look at her. Instantly the pinkette saw tears prickling at the older kumoichis eyes as she tried to hold them in.

"Oh no, don't you cry Shizune, we're almost done, please don't ruin the bit of make up on your face." The sound of the snake using kunoichi sounded, a hunt of a demand in her voice.

"Okay, okay, I just had to say it." The poison expert murmured, wiping at her eyes to make sure none of her tears had spilled over, smiling down at her old friend.

"Don't thank us yet, we still have a while to go yet." The lower and softer voice of the genjutsu master kunoichi stated, standing up to assess their work. Everyone else around nodding in agreement as they returned to what they were doing before.

"Okay, you look about don..." She was cut off when the door was slammed open, revealing a disheveled looking Godaime, stomping to the side of her attendant.

"You look like hell Tsunade-sama, why are you not changed yet." The bride exclaimed, an obvious pout in her face, obviously wondering why the amber eyed Hokage wasn't dressed for the occasion.

With softening eyes, the busty blonde fifty something year old appraised her pouting attendant.

"And you look like an angel Shizune, I'm sorry, I've just been a little busy, I'll start getting ready soon, I just have to talk with Sakura, okay." The blonde said, reaching for the teary eyed brides hand with a soft and gentle motion that completely changed the atmosphere as she let her slight motherly instinct for the woman who had stayed by her for so long show.

'Eh, what did I do?' The pinkette thought, trying to think why her shishou would want to talk to her now at such a busy time.

"Sakura" The Hokage demanded as she exited the room, a confused Sakura jumping to catch up to her.

"Shishou?" She asked once they were out in the hall, still walking, she caught up to her mentor, standing just behind her, waiting for her to answer.

Turning on her heel to face her student, the busty blonde stopped abruptly in front of the pinkette who was forced to come to an abrupt halt herself.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, but there's been an emergency at the hospital, and I'd usually ask Shizune to do it but... I'm sure you'd understand why I can't today." The blonde said, anticipating her apprentices reaction.

"I understand Shishou, what do you want me to do." The pinkette said, trying to shimmy out of her dress, but was stopped by the hand of her Shishou.

"Thank you Sakura, there's no time, If you leave now and just throw a bag over the dress you should make it to the ceremony in time, I just need you to ensure the wounds are healed enough so that he can come too."

'He? Who's he?' The pinkette thought, though she had sneaking suspicion about who it was.

"So help me, If he ruins this day for them..." The blonde kunoichi hissed.

"He always shows up at the wrong time." The blonde continued, smiling mirthfully at the mans antics, there was really no other person this could be.

"Okay, hurry girl, I have to go get ready myself, good luck, and make sure you both show, or else." The Hokage threatened turning again and stomping down the hallway.

"Damn you Kakashi." The irate pink haired woman hissed aloud as she shot towards the exit, making her way as fast as she could to the hospital.


	25. Chapter 25

If at that moment in time, you found yourself dwelling in or around the vicinity of the resident hospital found in Konoha village, you were sure to have seen a flash of pink atop a shimmering flow of gold as the hot headed cherry blossom of the village stormed her way to deal with a certain annoyance which she was loathe to have taken care of, yet knowing that as angry as she seemed on the outside, she was still worried about the man whose condition remained mostly undetermined in her eyes, especially after the vague description of what she was being sent to do by her blonde mentor.

The raging medic burst through the hospital doors, startling many of the unsuspecting medics and patients who happened to be near the door, which wasn't alot, considering most of the villagers were preparing for the festivities, something she had been dojng when she was rudely interrupted and told to get her butt to the hospital, well, in other words.

Pausing briefly at the reception desk, the fiery pinkette was none to kind when she practically barked an order for the details pertaining to her next patient. The skittish receptionist who began fumbling through the piles of folders and paper strewn across her desk to find the information that the fuming pink headed woman needed, handing it over with shaky hands, just to have it snatched ruthlessly from her hands before the poor woman was watching the form of the pinkette storm off in the direction of where she assumed her next "victim" was, sighing as the pink haired woman rounded the corner, taking her intense dark chakra with her.

The pink haired woman didn't care that she was being rude as she stomped towards the room that was highlighted on the slip she now held in her hand, walking past a utility closet and ripping one of the aprons from a container, slipping it on as she neared the silver haired man, snarling and glaring at anyone who dared get in her way.

Her colleagues were probably especially surprised by the pink haired womans behaviour, she never took on the demeanor of a raging bull unless she was in the midst of a tough surgery, but right now, she was in a rush to get this over with, even if her stomach fluttered involuntarily at the prospect of seeing the silver haired man for the first time since waking from her coma.

'Damn it' the pink haired woman inwardly berated herself, cursing her bodies involuntary reaction to seeing the damn insufferable silver haired jounin.

Rounding the corner, with the room insight, she zeroed in, storming over to the door with full intent on ripping the silver haired jounin a new one, for showing up at the most inopportune time, while everyone was getting ready for the big wedding.

Busting through the door, the kunoichi came to an abrupt halt as she eyed, not the lackadaisical form of her silver haired ex sensei, and current infatuation, but a startled young chuunin who looked doe eyed, gaping as she stared, almost frightened, at the pink haired medic who had just slammed the door open.

"Where is Kakashi?" The pink haired medic questioned, only barely able to keep her ire in check at finding the room devoid of the silver haired man. She couldn't tell which of her mixed emotions were more forthcoming, anger, disappointment, she pushed those thoughts from her mind for the moment as she eyed the stiff young woman, clearing out the sheets and blankets to prepare the room for its next patient.

"H-He checked himself o-out a little while ago Sakura-san." The young woman, whose name Sakura had yet to recall stuttered.

Deciding not to take her anger out on the poor woman, the still fuming kunoichi turned sharply from the room, stomping back to the reception desk in record time.

"Who gave permission for Hatake Kakashi to be dismissed from the hospital?!" The pink haired medic yelled, causing the receptionist, who for the second time that day, found herself the unsuspecting victim of the raging pink haired kunoichis lashing tongue, to shift uncomfortably in her seat, trying to think of a way to calm the pissed kunoichi, not only for the waiting patients who looked about to fled the scene, but for herself aswell, hoping she wouldn't get her head chopped off, or worse.

"A-Ah, Hatake-san. H-He insisted that he was fine, a-and that he had somewhere urgent to be..." The poor woman paused, shifting under the intense glare that was currently being directed her way by the irate kunoichi.

"We did insist that he st-stay, but, he simply walked out. We were powerless to..." Trailing off, the woman watched again as the slight figure of the powerful and fiery pink haired kunoichi stalked out of the hospital, tearing the apron off. The woman gave a sigh of relief, thankful that the medic hadn't taken her anger out on her.

* * *

As the pinkette made her way back towards the wedding venue, she felt her anger begin to ebb, giving way for the worry to creep into her mind.

It wasn't uncommon knowledge that silver haired jounin was not one to stick around long at the hospital, not because he was worried about people seeing him as weak or because he was averse to being taken care, rather, he liked his freedom too much and was much too stubborn to actually admit being hurt, so she was surprised at how worried she was, it may well have been irrational but she couldn't help it, and a small voice in the back of her mind whispered that it was because she cared about him, REALLY cared about him, but she pummeled those thoughts to dust, not willing to admit something like that to herself.

So she had dirty dreams about him, okay, and dreams that weren't so dirty and were quite innocent, okay, so she liked those dreams, alright. So they had had one night of naughty, blissful sin whilst on their mission, and it had left her reeling. Yep, that one was hard for her to forget.

But that was no grounds for her feelings about the man to change so drastically. Yet the more she thought about him, the more her heart began to clench. She knew he had been invading her mind unconciously for a while now, and even in her waking mind, she couldn't help it when her mind would start drifting to its latest fixation, and started conjuring up scenarios that her subconcious mind had yet to conjure up.

Shaking her head, the kunoichi forced those thoughts out, taking to the roofs of the village houses and buildings, making her way to the many places where her ex-sensei was known to frequent each time he was in the village. She still had an order to make sure the silver haired jounin was at the wedding and she refused to let her mixed feelings get in the way of making sure her two sempai had a nice flowing and undisturbed marriage ceremony.

* * *

She had searched everywhere for the annoyingly elusive ninja, from the MIA cenotaph, to the Hokage monument, she had scoured the entire village before reluctantly admitting defeat, rushing back towards the Hokage tower to re-prepare for the wedding ceremony, which she was sure would be a hassle.

After jumping from building to building, she was amazed at how her flimsy, flowy dress had remained intact, but as she looked in the mirror at her previously prestine state, she cringed.

Her hair, which had been pinned perfectly into place was now dangling in a horribly loose bun down her neck with loose strands of hair sticking out in all directions, windblown from all the flying over buildings. Her dress, though intact, now had very noticeable smudges of dirt splotching random places on the skirt and it also had a line of brown that was ringing the very bottom of the skirt, obviously from the stomping around on various dirt path ways. She was a mess, and there was no way she was going to walk down the aisle looking like she'd just ran multiple laps around the village, which she pretty much had.

The bridal party was no longer lingering in the room that they had assigned themselves to, to get ready, they were probably all down at the bar sipping wine and relaxing before the ceremony, something she should've doing.

Not giving time for her anger to come back in full force, she decided to start on her hair, placing it back in the position it had been in before she'd stupidly decided to go on a goose hunt for the silver haired jounin.

She stopped those thoughts and began rushing through the notions once again, trying to at least attain some semblance of neatness that she had previously acquired.

* * *

Looking at the time, the pink haired woman only had time to apply the most minimal amount of make-up before she shuffled out the door, trying not to disturb her perfectly redone hair, making her way as fast as she could, without falling, up the stairs to meet up with the rest of the bridal party before she was too late to join them as they walked out before the bride.

Coming up to the doors where she knew the other woman were in, she busted through the door, breathing slightly erratic as she straightened and made her over to the wide eyed bride and the rest of the woman who looked equally surprised at the pink haired medics almost disheveled state.

"What happened to you? The brown haired bride inquired, not bothering to hide her surprise at the younger womans appearance.

"I got caught up for a bit, thank god I made it in time." The pink haired woman replied in a rush, chuckling lightly as her sempai stepped forward, brushing a stray piece of pink hair out of the flushed younger womans face.

"Right". And almost immediately after that, a formally dressed civilian appeared from behind the door, gesturing for the bridesmaids to step forward and prepare to walk the aisle.

Each one of the woman stepped past the obviously nervous bride, patting softly on the shoulder or smiling at her assuringly. Sakura waited so that she'd be the last to pass by the bride, turning the woman with a genuinely pleased smile which was promptly mirrored by the other woman.

"Don't be so nervous. You look beautiful and Genma-san is waiting for you at the end of that aisle, and if you faint before you even step out, I doubt he'd be happy." The pinkette joked, pulling the older kunoichi into a swift hug, hearing a "Thank you" from the brown haired woman before turning towards the rest of the woman, waving slightly at the flushed brown haired woman, she wondered who was going to give her away, until she saw her shishou step up out of nowhere, taking her other apprentice around the elbow and sharing a silent moment of excitement, which is when Sakura turned away to face the door where all of the other woman were disappearing.

Gulping, she stepped forward a few times before it was almost her turn to step out.

Stepping out, the woman appraised the scenery. The space had looked beautiul under the blare of the sun, but under the mush less harsh flicker of the candles ands the slowly setting sun, the pink haired woman was struck by awe once again, as she made her way to the beginning of the aisle where she would meet up with one of the men from the grooms party.

The pink haired woman turned her head to see a man she had expected to come out from the beginning. Raido looked debonair and handsome as he walked stiffly towards the waiting pink haired kunoichi, both of them offering a small smile as they tangled eachothers elbows together and proceeded to walk down the aisle.

Once at the end of the aisle, which thankfully, was not very long, the young pink haired woman couldn't stop her eyes from wandering to the waiting groom.

Naturally, he looked handsome, still donning the ever present bandanna and senbon poking out from his lips. Though his usually casual slouch was niw straight and proud as his eyes remained fixed on the entryway that his wife to be was sure to enter from, worrying the small pin in his mouth, it was obvious that he was also nervous.

She looked down off the roof of the Hokage tower to see many of the villagers had gathered below and around the tower, she knew they couldn't see anything from their vantage point, but she also knew that they were their to show their support and respect for two ninja who had served as guards and protectors for the village over many years, and would most likely continue doing just that. Unless they decided to start a family of course, something the pink haired woman definitely looked forward to.

The pink haired woman turned her eyes to where her sempai would be entering, with her Shishou at her side, the pinkette was beaming when the music started, a beautiful Japanese melody that had everyone in the space silent as they all stood and waited for the bride to make her entrance.

When the people in the people standing in the back of the crowd that were bunched together on top of the tower began murmuring and gasping in the direction of the entryway the pinkette watched as her brown haired haired sempai, beaming and radiant stepped into the aisle, being towed by their respective mentor who served as a motherly figure in her life, who was positively glowing with pride as they traipsed slowly towards the senbon wielding ninja and the two parties of ninja standing on either side of him.

Turning her head back in the direction of the brown haired senbon wielding ninja, the pink haired woman, who had long forgotten her previous ire about her other concerns, couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips. The groom, who had looked every bit the nervous husband to be was now standing high and proud, brimming with confidence as he appraised his beautiful wife to be, who looked equally proud, smiling gently at each other, the love completely visible and tangible between the two as their eyes showed the defitnite adoration.

She was quite sure that if every person there that day were not war hardened shinobi who had been trained to not show emotion in most, if not all situations, there wouldn't be a dry eye in the crowd.

But that wasn't to say all were cold hearted, Sakura herself couldn't help the small tear that trailed down her own cheek, as well as a couple of the older kunoichi standing at her side, they were all ecstatic that their two friends or comrades had found something, or someone to hold onto, especially since they were both brought up in a world filled with pain and heart ache.

The pinkette, aswell as many other people couldn't help the giggles and chuckles as they heard the taijutsu expert, usually clad in his and his younger protegès green spandex suit, now wearing a suit that was more suitable for the situation.

"OH! The sweet power of youth strikes again, these two be-beautiful..." The taijutsu expert trailed off as his sobs wracked his body, falling to lay his weight onto his young student who's cries harmonised his older mentor, the noise filling the the ears of the ninja in the crowd who were partly amused and slightly annoyed by his antics.

The two easily emotional ninja tried in vain to lessen their cries of joy when they found themselves subject to several glares and jabs, the most intimidating glare coming from the direction of the senbon wielding jounin who looked like he would either jab them both in the face or burst out laughing, but he let it go for the moment when the woman of the moment cleared her throat to get everyone to shift their attention back to main event.

The brown haired woman as well as her blonde mentor came a halt just a couple of feet away from the alter, where the bandana wearing jounin, now with an excited expression on his face, waited.

With a few murmured words and a kiss on the cheek, followed by a wink in the direction of the groom from a certain powerful kunoichi, the nervous yet beyond excited brown haired woman turned to step towards her husband to be, who immediately held out a hand to assist her in getting to the right place in no time, both of them beaming at each other as they came chest to face, until the bride in burgundy tipped her head upwards to meet the loving gaze of her partner.

Just as the ceremony was beginning, there was a loud "POOF!" right by the groomsmen, drawing the attention of everyone in the place, a shock of silver was the most obvious hint as to who had just arrived, in the most tactless way ever, so was the thought of the pinkette who could not believe what had just happened.

"Ah..." The silver haired jounin exclaimed eloquently, with one hand holding the back of his neck, looking every bit like a child who had just been caught doing something that they shouldn't.

"Kakashi! My man, how typical of you." The groom said, obviously referring to the habitual tardiness of said silver haired man, turning to slap his hand on his friends shoulder.

"Mah, sorry Genma, Shizune-san. I'm not to late am I?" The silver haired man apologised, bowing gently as to emphasise his apology.

The senbon wielding ninja simply slapped his friend on the shoulder again, laughing heartily and shaking his head as a negative to the question before turning back to his wife to be, prompting everyone to resume the ceremony.

The pink haired woman just continued to stare, or half glare at the silver haired man, who had straightened his posture, well until he was standing in his usual lackadaisacal stance, watching the proceedings as well.

"I cannot believe he just did that" The pinkette thought, not at all happy with the fact that the silver haired man had just been let off the hook so easily. It wasn't until she heard the call "Now, you may kiss the bride!" that she redirected her attention to the two lovers who were finally officialising their nuptials, clapping emphatically as a genuine smile plastered itself across her face, watching as the two held each other close before walking down the aisle again, presumably to prepare for the reception.

Their was a roar of claps and calls as the two kissed and walked down the aisle, their respective parties in tow.

Sakura walked up so that she could take the aisle again with the scarred jounin whom she had previously walked with, only to be grabbed and tangle her elbow with the silver haired jounin who looked down at her briefly before looking forward and tugging the pink haired medic along down the aisle. The young woman suddenly became meek in his presence, something she hated when he came near, and something she thought she had gotten over, looking down at her feet, cheeks heating from having the silver haired man so close, she cursed under her breath at her bodies involuntary reaction.

As much as she wanted to be mad, as much as she wanted to pull away from the silver haired jounin and storm down the aisle away from him, she found that she couldn't. All of the anger that she had been harboring for the man at her side for the duration of time between the last time she had seen him to that moment began to evaporate as her fear, panic and worry came to the forefront of her mind.

It was a short walk to the beginning of the aisle, and when they came to the end, the pink haired woman chanced a glance at her silver haired ex-sensei as they began to part and go in two different directions.

Her heart drummed against her ribcage as her recent infatuation leaned forward, as if to kiss her cheek.

"I'll see you later, Sakura." The man whispered into her ear, breath fanning across the blushing pink haired medics cheeks, causing her to freeze up, eyelids fluttering softly as he pulled away, walking one step backwards before turning and making his way through the door to where the grooms and groomsmen were meeting, turning back to appraise her once before disappearing through the opening.

The pinkette turned sharply, rushing through the door and letting out a long breath, forcing the rush of blood from her cheeks. She desperately hoped that nobody else was privy to that moment.

Had she just imagined that seductive tone or not? Was he toying with her?

Oh, no, she wouldn't be having that.

Continuing to walk through the door to the make shift changing room, she began to get undressed, slipping into the much less flowy dress, much less being the key phrase, that was selected for her to wear at the reception.

The pinkette cringed as she regarded her reflection in the mirror. The dress was simple enough, a little black dress, but it was short and exposed alot of her alabaster skin, not leaving much to the imagination, it accentuated her unnoticed womanly figure in a way that she thought absolutely trashy.

"Looking good Sakura-chan." The emphatic statement of the snake using kunoichi reached the pink haired womans ears before she was bumped none to gently in the hip by the same exuberant woman.

Turning to the older kunoichi, now seeing the slightly glazed look in her eyes, the pinkette concluded that somebody had gotten a head start on drinking, the inebriated kunoichi handed a glass of yellow liquid, the kind that made the pink haired medic wince in displeasure at the smell, and remembering the taste. She took the glass anyway, planting it on the table they were standing next to.

Murmuring a quick "Thank you." To the older kunoichi, the young medic turned back to her reflection in the mirror.

'Oh, Screw it!' The determined kunoichi thought, taking the glass in her hand and downing it in one go, letting the hot liquid burn her throat.

Storming away from the mirror and making her way towards the reception area, telling herself that the man that her mind had been fixated in was not the reason that she would be stepping out in less then she had worn since the last time she had been with the silver haired man.

Pausing midstep, she forced the memory of that night from her mind as she walked towards the huge reception area below the Hokage tower, now filled with many ninja and civilian alike.

She tried her best to ignore the blatant ogling of many men as she stormed passed, bee lining towards the bar to grab another before her judgement got the best of her and turned and grabbed one of the unfortunate perverts by the jewels and made an example out of him.

"Something strong, please." She called to the bartender, Ayame? She recalled, the daughter of the owner of her best, blonde male best friends favourite ramen shop, Teuchi. Sakura briefly wondered why the other woman had been stuck with the job.

"Here you go Sakura-san. Want anything else?" The older woman asked, receiving a slow sideways nod, the brown haired woman just nodded and walked down to serve another person.

Gulping the second glass, the pinkette woman could feel the sudden dizziness hit her as she softly swayed.

She looked over to where the crowd had begun cheering, seeing as both newlyweds stepped out into the reception area, hands entwined, smiling at everyone who had gathered whilst they walked slowly through the aisle that the people had seperated to make, all the way to their table.

The pinkette smiled, reminding herself to go and congratulate the two lovebirds later, turning back to the bar and calling Ayame back over to hand her another glass.

"Not going to judge Sakura-san. But whatever's got you so wound up, don't go over board, okay?" The older ramen cook stated.

The pinkette simply looked up and smiled, eyes half lidded as the alcohol had already begun taking its affect.

She knew she was light weight when it came to alcohol yet she continued to gulp glass after glass, for hours.

As time passed, the woman felt the disappointment hit her, wondering where the silver haired jounin had gone and why he hadn't showed yet.

'He did say he was going to see me later, so why ain't he here?' The pinkette thought, turning unsteadily on her stool to face the crowd. The food had been served long ago, something the pink haired woman had skipped, not a good idea, she knew, since it meant she would be getting much drunker and faster. Now, everyone was swaying to the music, that she hadn't realised was playing until that moment, she saw the two newlyweds in the middle of the dance floor, swaying to the music, immersed in nothing but each other as they danced. The pink haired medic averted her eyes, thinking that the scene was much to intimate for her to witness.

When she noticed a man across the room staring at her, someone she knew from around the village but couldn't quite put a name to the face, she instantly returned his appraisal, looking him up and down, seeing a rather confident, yet handsome smile cross his features, she smiled in a way that she hoped was inviting and just the right amount of sexy, she was reassured when the man, Toshio, was it? Turned away for a second with the smirk still on his face, before facing her again with what she thought was a sexy grin. He sauntered towards the pink haired woman, looking just like a man who knew he would be having fun tonight.

When he reached the pink haired woman, he leaned forward, placing his hands on the bar on either side of pinkettes shoulders, inching towards her with the same charming grin.

"Hey gorgeous. My name's Toshio. What do ya say to a little dance?" The handsome man whispered into her ear, breath fanning across her cheek.

The pink haired woman winced as her mind instantly recalled the moment between her an d the silver haired jounin earlier that night, and she couldn't help it as she compared this actions of the man in front of her to those of her recent infatuations, cursing herself for realising that the latter always had more of an effect on her.

Standing to her full height, on slightly wobbly legs, forcing the man who had invaded her personal space back as she tried to steady herself. She turned her face up and fluttered her eyelashes through heavy lidded eyelids, at the handsome man, letting the same sexy smile take over her features as she attempted a smouldering look.

"Lets go." She mouthed, prompting the man standing ahead of her to grab her around the waist and tug her onto the dance floor.

As soon as they were on the outskirts of the crowd, gyrating on the dance floor with no inhibitions, she let herself be lead into a slow sensual groove by the man who continued to hold her close around the waist, front to front.

The pink haired medic looked down at the ground, she tried to force the memories from her mind, but the way their bodies were moving, how they were melded so closely together, memories of the last night she had shared with the silver haired jounin flashed through her mind.

Because she couldn't shake the thoughts of her silver haired ex-sensei from her mind, she pictured that it was him who she was dancing with, that it was his body that was moving so sensually with her own, and before she knew it, she was dancing with the handsome man ahead of her with reckless abandon, twisting her body around and arching her body in waves into the chest behind her.

She felt hot and she could feel the heat radiating off the man behind her.

Suddenly, she felt herself being torn away from the warmth on her back, now staring at the man she had been dancing with around the wall that had magically appeared between them. She saw the handsome man she had been dancing with gape at the wall before scurrying away in the other direction.

The wall turned, and she felt two hands wrap around her biceps, lifting her away from the dance floor.

Even in her inebriated state, she knew who it was, where he touched her left a scorching mark on her skin and she rolled her head up to meet the masked chin of who she already suspected was dragging her out of the crowd.

She smiled seductively up at his hidden face, not caring in the least that the music was fading and the strobing lights from the party were no longer visible.

"Kakashi" She spoke in a low, husky whisper.

The masked ninja stopped, lowered the pinkette to the ground before leaning over to look the woman more squarely in the face.

"Mah, Sakura, I think you've had a little bit too much to drink, don't you?" The deep baritone of the silver haired ninjas voice caused the inebriated woman to shudder, looking into the eyes of the man she had been dreaming about for many nights now, flushing from head to toe at their proximity.

"Well, I'm not surprised you're cold." The man murmured, mistaking her reaction to his voice for her being cold. Eyes roaming over the form of the woman in her prime, the pinkette hadn't missed the flash of lust that crossed the mans eyes, before he looked back up to her face, chuckling and scratching the back of his neck nervously, the silver haired ninja removed his jacket and pulled it over the pink haired medics shoulders, obviously trying to keep his eyes from lingering anywhere below her shoulders.

The still trashed pink haired woman looked up through half closed eyes into the one onyx eye of the masked ninja, trying for seductive, stepping closer the man and arching her back as he straightened, trying to keep eye contact with him, putting her hands up to press against his chest, running her hands over the fabric, which she knew, covered the well sculptured torso of a man in his prime.

The silver haired ninja smirked, breaking eye contact with the inebriated woman who was now pressed up against his front, he looked back down into her smouldering eyes, shaking his head in disbelief at her boldness before grabbing the young woman around the waist with one hand, and placing his other hand over her small feminine one on her chest.

* * *

The street they had found themselves on was once again left barren as the two shinobi 'POOFED' out of the street in a cloud of smoke.


End file.
